Minecraft: The Saga of Kyle
by PixelKnux
Summary: Steve has had his adventures in his world. But up until now, all he has encountered are NPC's. What happens when Steve meets someone like him? Rated T for moderate violence and suggestive language.
1. Chapter 1: Who are You?

Steve woke up in his bed, feeling refreshed and revitalized. He got out of bed and began to head towards the Testificate village.

When Steve arrived at the village, he went to the church to hear the bishop's sermon just as it was finishing up.

"And Notch rested on the seventh day. In His name we pray, amen." Steve walked up to the bishop.

"Hello there, bishop. How've things been around here lately?"

"Oh, yes, they have been very good. We have been able to go outside of the village in order to collect resources more peacefully now that you have helped us so much, my friend. However, I have a small question to ask of you."

"Shoot," Steve said.

"Well, I was called upon when I heard some of the other Testificates saying that they saw you outside their doors a few days ago. Was that you?"

Steve thought for a moment before he answered. "No… I've been at my house for the past two weeks."

The bishop seemed puzzled. "Oh well," he sighed, "at least whoever this is means us no harm. Or at least, I hope they do not."

"Don't worry bishop. If this guy ever gives you trouble," Steve tapped on his sheathed sword, "me and my blade will have a nice long chat with him."

"Well thank you my friend. Now run along, I have much to do."

Steve stayed in the Testificate village until it was night time. He walked back home in the darkness, not having any problems with any of the monsters. Steve thought it was rather peculiar that no monsters had been coming to try to kill him. Nevertheless, he arrived back home.

Steve found it hard to sleep that night. For some reason, he couldn't get his eyes to shut. Steve rolled out of bed in the middle of the night and went downstairs to his foyer. When he got downstairs, he thought he heard someone screaming.

Yep, it was definitely someone screaming. Was it a Testificate? Steve looked out the window. He saw a man coming straight for his house, followed by a bunch of skeletons and zombies. Grabbing his sword, Steve immediately ran outside.

He sliced through three of the skeletons with one swing of his sword. He then turned around and drove his sword clean through four zombies, effectively making a zombie-kabob. After he had killed all the monsters, Steve looked around for whom it was that was screaming. However, he couldn't seem to find the person. Steve shrugged and went back into his house. As soon as he had shut the door, he heard a small knock.

"TOCK TOCK TOCK"

Steve was taken aback. He thought that it might be a zombie, and Steve readied his sword. When he opened the door, however, he saw a man. This man, who was almost as tall as Steve, had an extremely square head, blonde hair, brown pants and a very billowy shirt. He held a sharpened stick in his hand, and was out of breath. He looked up at Steve.

"Thanks a lot for savin me, guy. I don't know what I might have done without you," the mysterious man said through panting.

"Who are you, and why did you bring all of those monsters over here?" Steve questioned menacingly, putting a hand on his sword.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa buddy! I didn't mean to alarm you. I was trying to get away from all of those goons!"

"Okay," Steve said, taking his hand off of his sword, "but my question still remains: who are you?"

"My name is Kyle."


	2. Chapter 2: The Mineshaft

Steve stared at Kyle for a long period. His memory was jarred when Kyle began to speak again.

"Uh…It's cold out here, and I have no armor. Can I please come in?"

Steve snapped back to reality. "Whuh? Oh, yes, come on in, let's get you warmed up."

Steve handed Kyle a bucket of warm milk and sat by the fireplace. Kyle sipped the milk profusely and with much slurping. After he was finished, Steve looked at Kyle with a look of disgust and minor amusement.

"So, Kyle…why were those monsters attacking you?" Steve questioned.

"Hm? Oh yeah, those," Kyle began, "Well, I woke up here a few days ago. I didn't quite know where I was, so I began to look around for some food. I made sure to make myself some kind of a weapon so I could, maybe, kill a pig or something. But I accidentally fell into a giant hole, and found myself inside of a mineshaft!"

Steve pondered to himself. "Huh…are there _more_ people here?" Kyle continued along with his story.

"…and I saw a rotting man coming right for me! I tried to grab what was in the chest, but I didn't have any time. I began to run away from them as fast as I could, and that's where you came in."

"Uh-huh. Well, it sounds like you've had quite a rough time of it, then."

"Oh man, have I! But…I still want to go back into that hole and try to get that treasure back. If you come with me, I'll give you half of whatever is inside of it."

"Okay then. But let's wait until morning," Steve said, pulling a bed out of his chest. "Here, you can sleep in this."

* * *

The chest in the mineshaft lay open with a glowing substance inside of it. A Testificate with greed in his eyes dawned over the chest menacingly, letting out a soft cackle.


	3. Chapter 3: Who Dun it?

Kyle led the way to the mineshaft while Steve followed close behind. They both descended into the hole and were immediately met with three skeletons on spiders. Steve pulled out is sword. Kyle almost wet himself as he ran away, screaming.

"Idiot," Steve thought to himself.

Steve lunged and slashed clean through the skeleton on the left, then turned his blade and drove it backwards through the skeleton in the middle, twisting his sword to make sure that the bones of the skeleton shattered. He then pulled his blade out of the ribcage of the skeleton and drove it into the thorax of the first spider, pulled it out and pierced the head of the second spider behind him. Steve then threw his blade in the air behind him, and did a backwards flip. The sword landed straight on the spider's head, and as Steve stuck his landing, he immediately pulled it out of the spider and drove it through the skeleton. Kyle looked at Steve in shock, his mouth hanging on the floor.

"Quit that. You'll catch flies," Steve said, "Here, take this and back me up with it." Steve picked up a bow that one of the skeletons had dropped and tossed it at Kyle. As Kyle fumbled with the bow, Steve was already moving ahead through the mineshaft.

Kyle led the way through the weaving tunnels of the mineshaft. He stopped for a moment and surveyed his surroundings.

"Hmmm…" Kyle said, pensively looking around, "If I remember correctly, the chest should be…"

"There?" Steve said, pointing to a chest in the middle of the tunnel.

"AHA! Yes! TREASURE!" Kyle ran over to the chest with a look of excitement, which quickly turned to sorrow as soon as he had opened it. The chest revealed itself to be empty.

"What the hay? I was sure there was stuff in here! What happened to it?"

"Well," Steve began, "I'm pretty sure that your treasure got stolen. The question we need to answer is 'Who stole it?'" Steve picked up a handful of gravel and threw it over the chest. He then blew away the gravel gently, revealing a small print on the top of the lid.

"Cool trick," Kyle stated.

"Hmmm…these look like Testificate prints. But who could have touched this? I know all of the Testificates in the surrounding area, and none of them are the adventurous types." Steve hacked off the lid of the chest and put it in his pack. "Come on, let's head towards the surface; maybe the bishop can shed some light on this."

* * *

"Hmmm…" The bishop looked at the lid with a steady eye. "I cannot say who it is for certain, my friend, but it is a Testificate." Kyle stood in the background, wondering how they could even tell the difference.

"But I know all of the Testificates around here," Steve stated questioningly, "So who could it be?"

"Well Steve, while it true that you know all the Testificates in _this _village, it is a vast world. There are bound to be more Testificates out there somewhere. Perhaps it was one of them?"

"OH! OH! I SMELL AN ADVENTURE!" Kyle shouted with excitement. Steve facepalmed.


	4. Chapter 4: When Pigs Fly

"Okay, now I'm going to want to bring some iron stuff for Kyle. Let's see… it might be a good idea to go see Tesmithicate."

Steve went outside to prepare for his adventure. When he stepped outside, he saw Kyle riding on the back of pig with a huge smile of his face. Steve passed Kyle with a look of annoyance. As he walked into the blacksmith's small shop, Kyle continued to frolic about on the back of the pig. Steve walked out of the blacksmith's shop a few minutes later and saw Kyle on the back of the pig, with a serious expression on his face. Kyle rode over to Steve wearing sunglasses, and tried not to snicker.

"Okay…I'm ready to go," Kyle said in between repressed giggles.

"Sure you are. Here, I got you some better armor and a new sword." Steve tossed the sword and armor to Kyle, almost knocking him off of his mounted swine. As Kyle regained his balance, he put his armor on and drew out his sword.

"Hmmm…I shall call it…the Task Master."

Once again, Steve face palmed.

* * *

"*Cough cough* Can't…*wheeze*go…*wheeze*on…need*cough*…waaatter…"

"Dude, we just left the village. You ate almost half of their food and drank so much that you had to pee for five minutes straight."

Kyle looked at Steve for a minute and then said, "Oh yeah. I forgot."

Steve walked along Kyle, who was still on his pig, until they reached a mountainous region. "Oh yeah…I remember this place," Steve mentioned, "This was where I built my portal to hell." Steve looked to the top of a small hill and saw his portal frame. He walked up and noticed that there was a block of obsidian missing from the side.

"I think it broke," Kyle stupidly mentioned. Steve looked at Kyle with annoyance.

"HEY WAIT A SEC'! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? NO NO NO NO NONONONONONOOOOOOOOOoooooooo o…" *thump*

Steve had picked up Kyle's pig, to which he was still saddled, and threw it off of a nearby cliff. Kyle looked up and shook his head. The pig hadn't survived the fall, and all that remained of him were some delicious pork chops. Kyle stood up and saw a strange man in a lab coat and goggles looking at him. He spoke with a robotic tone.

"OMG R U OK?"


	5. Chapter 5: The Mod Master

"Um…yeah. I think so." Kyle stood up and shook the dust off of him.

"OK GOOD. I WANTED 2 MAKE SURE U WER OK."

Steve caught up with Kyle and saw him talking to the strange Testificate which stood before him. "Kyle, who is this?" Steve questioned.

"MY NAME IS MODIFICATE. I AM A CHEAT MASTR" the man said in his electronic voice.

"Cheat master? I have never heard of such a thing before," Steve stated quizzically.

"I USE MODS 2 DO STUF I WANT 2 DO. I CAN PRTY MUCH GET ANYTHNG I WANT."

"Where do you live?"

"NOT 2 FAR FRM HERE. FLLW ME."

The strange Testificate then began to float up into the air. Both Steve and Kyle were looking at the man with awe as he flew away. The Testificate then came back, looking guilty.

"OOPS. FRGT 2 GIVE U GUYS FLY. HERE U GO. JUMP 2 TIMES"

Steve looked at Kyle with an expression of disbelief and doubt, but Kyle did as he was told. As he did, Kyle began to feel his body become extremely lightweight, as if he had no mass at all. Kyle then zoomed into the air, giggling the whole way. Once again, Steve was dumbstruck. Steve then tried the same thing, and sure enough, both of them were soaring through the sky with their new found flight ability.

"OK. NOW FLLW ME," Modificate said.

Steve saw the scenery rushing past him as he followed in pursuit of the strange Testificate. He saw an enormous forest go past him in less than a minute. Eventually, the three of them came to a plain, and Steve saw a small village of Testificates, but with a large mansion in the very back end. Just as soon as the village came into view, however, Steve and Kyle both began to fall back to the earth.

Both Steve and Kyle landed on their feet, but neither of them had taken any damage when they fell. As soon as Modificate had landed, Steve began to question him.

"How in Notch's name did you do that?" Steve asked excitedly.

"LOL U BLEVE IN NOTCH. IT WAS QUITE SIMPL. ALL I DID WAS TURN UR 'NO CLIP' ON UNTIL WE HIT THE VILLAGE."

"What is 'no clip'?" Steve questioned again.

"IT WOOD TAKE 2 LONG 2 EXPLN TO BOTH OF U, SO JUST COME ON NSIDE OF MY MANSION."

* * *

"SO WHAT BRNGS U 2 TO THIS AREA?" the odd man questioned.

"We're on an adventure!" Kyle shouted without hesitation.

Steve rubbed his forehead in annoyance, and then continued, "We are searching for a Testificate that stole some treasure that we both want. Might you have any idea who around here is notorious for thievery?"

Modificate puzzled a little bit, and then asked "DO U HVE ANYTHNG THT HE TUCHED?" Steve pulled out the chest lid and handed it to Modificate. He glanced over it, and then a beam of light came out of his goggles. As he scanned the lid, he began to mutter incoherent babble about what NPC number it was and all the attributes. When he was finished, he looked up and began to speak about the results of his scan.

"SCANS SHO NO PIC OF THE CULPRIT. HOWEVR, I DO KNO HIS NAME."

"What is his name?" Kyle asked with anticipation.

"HIS NAME IS TESTHIEFICATE."

"Figures," Steve stated.

"HE LIVS IN A VILLAGE VERY FAR FROM HERE."

"Well…that is kinda lame. Especially since that little flying excursion already took us off of our map." Steve said with annoyance.

"HERE, LET ME GIVE U SOME MORE MAPS SO YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE UR GOING." Steve looked in his pack and saw multiple sheets of ragged paper. "I MADE THOSE MAPS SO THEY ONLY START MRKNG WHEN U GO OFF UR PRVIOUS 1."

"There isn't any chance that you can make us able to fly again, can you?" Kyle said excitedly.

"NO. SRY. I CAN ONLY MKE PEOPLE FLY WHN THEYRE NEER ME."

"Dang," Kyle sullenly stated. Yet again, Steve face palmed.


	6. Chapter 6: You're Under Arrest

"Okay, okay, okay…um…I spy with my little eye…"

"It's a tree."

"Oh DANG IT! How are you so good at this game?"

"…Kyle, We're in a forest. All of the things you've spied have either been trees or flowers." Steve's stomach growled with hunger, and then he continued, "Which really sucks considering that we haven't found a single pig. Or cow. Or chicken."

"I found some pork chops from Sir Piggleton when we fell off that cliff!" Kyle said in haste.

"Did you eat them?" Steve questioned.

"…yes."

Steve sighed and looked at the map. "Well," Steve continued, "that little detour put us smack at the other end of a huge forest that we wouldn't even have needed to cross in the first place if you hadn't been acting like an idiot."

"Hey now! I'm not the one who has been a grumpy gus ever since we started this journey!"

"A journey that we never would have started had it not been for you!"

Steve and Kyle continued to argue for a solid five minutes while continuing to walk until Kyle ran into a tree and popped a block off of it. Feeling sorry for him, Steve offered Kyle a hand to help him up and they continued on their way.

Steve and Kyle came out of the forest, back to the mountains where they had taken the tangent from the trail. Steve looked at the map and saw on the very edge a small house, which he derived, was from a nearby village. He and Kyle began to walk towards the village. However, when they arrived, they found that the buildings there were not at all what they were expecting.

Huge skyscrapers made entirely out of wood and cobblestone lined the streets of the village, along with various merchants strewn all around the village. Steve and Kyle looked around with amazement, up until Kyle began to smell some food. He rushed over to a vendor who was selling fried fish on sticks.

"Mmm…that smells delicious," Kyle said, his mouth watering.

"Well yes, freshest in town! Have some, have some!" the vendor said.

"Thank you!" Kyle said excitedly as he was about to indulge in the fish.

"That'll be 300 gold," the vendor said.

Upon hearing that, Steve knocked the fish out of Kyle's hand. "Hey!" Kyle said, "Why did you do that? Now I won't even get to eat it!"

"Because you don't have 300 gold!" Steve exclaimed.

"THEIF!" the vendor shouted, shocking Steve and Kyle out of their argument. At that point, the vendor became extremely menacing and towered over Steve and Kyle.

"Run?" Kyle questioned, scared.

"Oh, yes," Steve stated, equally as frightened.

As the two of them began to run away from the surprisingly fast Testificate vendor that was chasing them, they both ran into a giant man made of iron, who also seemed extremely peeved at them. Both of them sharply turned the other way and began to run in the opposite direction. As they did, they quickly approached the vendor, who was still running right at them. Time then seemed to slow down as Kyle slid straight in between the legs of the vendor while Steve did a back flip over him. They both landed on their feet and continued to run. The vendor, still running the opposite direction, looked back at them in confusion, and immediately ran into the iron man. Kyle and Steve enjoyed a laugh as they slowed down to catch their breath.

"That was some quick thinking," Steve said.

Kyle, still panting, replied, "Thanks."

They began to try to continue to walk through town when Steve and Kyle were immediately surrounded by a bunch of iron men, along with a Testificate in a blue uniform.

"Gentlemen," the man said, pulling out a sword, "you two are under arrest."


	7. Chapter 7: Men on the Run

Steve and Kyle were escorted underground to a dungeon. They were shoved into an obsidian-lined cell with two beds and a ground level window. They had already had all of their belongings stripped from them before they were put in the dungeon, so there wasn't even a chance of breaking through the obsidian. "And remember," The guard said, "you serve your trial tomorrow in front of our high lord, Testificoin."

Steve and Kyle heard the door to the dungeon lock shut by two pistons. Kyle immediately ran up to the door and shouted, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE US! WE WILL WIN!"

"Kyle, I don't mean to be a downer here," Steve said as he plopped on his bed, "but they kinda already did take us."

"Aww man Steve! It's all my fault! I really shouldn't be so greedy."

"That's ok Kyle. What we need to focus on now is what we're going to say tomorrow in front of their monarch."

"Well, maybe we can plead the fifth!" Kyle said excitedly.

"Kyle, do you even know what that means?"

"…I think it's something about…chickens?" Steve, yet again, face palmed.

* * *

Kyle and Steve knelt on the rug before an empty throne, their hands tied behind them.

"PRRRESENTING THE LORD HIGH KING OF THE CITY, LORD TESTIFICOIN!"

The guard introduced the king as he strutted into the room. He was wearing a lengthy ruby red gown over his silky white shirt. He was also wearing some of the tightest pants Steve or Kyle had ever seen, and they were rather disturbing to look at. The king sat in his throne with a look of disgust on his face.

"What are the charges against these two criminals?" the king said in the most snobbish way that he could.

A guard cleared his throat, and then read from a scroll, "2 counts of thievery from the lord high king himself."

"Very good," The king stated, "And how do the defendants plead?"

Kyle and Steve both took in a breath to begin to speak, but were interrupted by a guard who immediately shouted, "Guilty."

"Very well," The king said again, "Their sentence…DEATH BY WOLVES!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Kyle said, rising from the ground, "We didn't have any prior-"

"HOW DAAAAARRRRE YOU! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OUT OF TURN IN MYYYYYYY COURTROOM!" the king shrieked. "GUARDS! TAKE THESE MONSTROSITIES AWAY FROM ME! I CANNOT BEAR THE STENCH OF THEIR WREACHEDNESS ANY LONGER!"

Kyle began to panic, but Steve still lay knelt on the ground with head held down. As the guards encircled the two of them, Steve began to act. The first guard to hover over Steve received a sharp uppercut to the jaw from Steve's cranium as Steve stood up sharply. Steve then roundhouse kicked the guard opposite him in the face. As he did, Steve also threw his leg behind him and nailed a guard straight in his crotch, bringing the guard to his knees. Kyle stupidly tried to head butt one of the guards. The guard wasn't fazed, and Kyle merely ended up with a massive headache. As Steve finished up air kicking the last guard, they heard the king shouting.

"GUARDS! SEIZE THEM!"

"I think it's time to run now, Kyle." Steve said.

They both burst through the ginormous doors of the courtroom and ran outside. As they ran through the city, more and more guards and iron men were chasing them in pursuit. Kyle and Steve continued to look ahead of them and heard a small squeak coming from a shack.

"Quickly! Come hide in here!" the squeak said.

Steve and Kyle ducked into the door of the shack and heard it shut behind them. As they did, they heard the guards and iron men storm past, still trying to catch up with Steve and Kyle. Steve and Kyle tried to catch their breath, and as they did, the squeak spoke again.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah...I think so," Steve panted, "who…who are you?"

A small childrificate stepped out of the shadow of the shack. "My name is Testifikid," the small Testificate child said.


	8. Chapter 8: The Coup D'état

"Hey there little fella," Kyle said, "Where's your mom and dad?"

"They work all day and all night serving that vile piece of slime we call a ruler. I hate him and all he stands for."

Kyle and Steve both seemed taken aback by the small child. Steve began to speak to the childrificate once more.

"Why is he such a bad guy?"

"He is a king whose sole desire is to acquire all the monetary wealth he can possibly get his greedy fingers on. Any iron, gold, diamonds, redstone, almost all of our city's resources are sold just so out king can live a life of luxury while we're forced to go off of what he tosses in the garbage. Which, as you probably can guess," the small child gestured around the room, "is not much."

"Why doesn't someone rise up against him?"

"All of the Testificates in the city have adapted to his way of life. It is all they know. And all the childrificates are too feeble to come close to him." The small child lowered his head in shame.

Steve, feeling sorry for the young child, offered to help. "I and my associate would be glad to help in any way we can."

"Say what now?!" Kyle exclaimed. Steve immediately conked Kyle on his noggin.

"Oh thank you! Notch bless you players…here take these." The childrificate reached into a chest and pulled out two ragged guard uniforms, along with some rudimentary stone swords. "These will help you infiltrate the king's keep. The only people he trusts with his valuables are his guards. Little does he know what's in store for him… heh heh heh…"

"…this kid is creepin me out." Kyle received another bonk on his noggin.

* * *

Kyle and Steve put on their uniforms the next day and proceeded to go into the keep incognito. They began lazily wondering about the hallways, trying to formulate a plan.

"Okay…here's what I'm thinking we do," Kyle began, "I'm gonna come up behind him and hiss like a creeper. Then you…"

Kyle's idiotic plan was interrupted by another guard shouting from the other end of the hallway. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!"

"We're busted!" Kyle squeaked in fear.

The guard approached Kyle and Steve and looked at them with a hairy eyeball of suspicion for a solid two and a half minutes. "THE LATRINES HAVEN'T BEEN CLEANED ALL DAY! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

"YEAH, LACKEY! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Steve immediately shouted at Kyle. Kyle immediately had a look of guilt, terror and confusion on his face all at the same time, making it hard for Steve not to bust out laughing. The guard grabbed a bucket and a sponge from a nearby supply closet and shoved them at Kyle.

"I WANNA SEE IT SHINE!" the guard shouted.

"But…but…NPC's don't even go poops…" Kyle mumbled as he walked away. Steve looked back at Kyle with a smirk on his face until he received his assignment from the peeved off guard. "AND YOU! GO DOWNSTAIRS AND GUARD THE DUNGEON! THE INMATES HAVE BEEN GETTING RULEY DOWN THERE, AND YOU NEED TO GO AND SHUT 'EM UP. HOP TO IT!"

"YES SIR!" Steve exclaimed, trying his hardest not to crack a smile.

* * *

Steve walked down to the dimly lit dungeon that he knew all too well. The only people in the dungeon were two Testificates, both in different cells. One of them was lying in bed, sleeping, while the other one was sitting in his cell with his arms folded over his legs. Steve walked up to the one lying on the floor of his cell.

"Hey man, I'm new here. What are you in for?"

The Testificate let out a large sigh and began to explain. "Well," he started, "I lived in a small shack on the outskirts of town. Life was just fine for me as a miner for the king. I was in a mineshaft one day and I found a small chest. When I looked inside the chest, I saw…" Steve clenched his fist in anticipation, "…nothing. All the treasure from that chest had been stolen! When I went to alert the guards, they accused me of stealing it, saying that what I had mined that day was what I had found in the chest! I tried to tell them that they were wrong, but the king had already sentenced me to life imprisonment."

"Well, that sounds terrible. What about that guy?" Steve pointed to the guy lying on his bed.

"Oh, him? He's crazy. He always talks of magical machines in a world called 'Tekkit'. The king had him locked up for witchcraft."

"Oh." Steve stated. "Well, I actually have a buddy of mine who's on the inside with me, and we were thinking of committing a coup d'état. Do you have any information about the king?"

"All I know is that he always takes his nap at midday, and then after his nap he sips a cup of milk. Maybe if you poisoned the milk, you could get him?"

"Well, thank you sir. I will be sure that you get your freedom."

* * *

Kyle picked up the sponge and began to rub the iron floor of the latrine. Another guard walked in, and Kyle immediately became mortified. The guard, not being able to see through the obvious terror in Kyle's body language, started to chat with Kyle.

"So," the guard said, "what's happenin?"

"Uh…uh...uh...uh…uh…uh" Kyle tried to speak, but all that came out was an awkward squawking noise.

"Yeah, I know how you feel man. It like, 'what am I doing?' ya know?"

Kyle simply shook his head as he began to rub the wall with his sponge.

"Ya know," the guard began, "I never wanted to serve this dude. All he does is yell at us. 'Do this, do that, blah blah blah'. All day long! And the closest we come to any real sort of payment is to get to be in his majesty's royal treasure room."

Kyle looked up from what he was doing. "Did you say…treasure?"

"Well yeah. Every day, his majesty goes in with a different guard and seals up the door in order to count his treasure. In fact, I think it's just about that time."

"Okay. Say…don't I outrank you?" Kyle said nonchalantly.

"Uh…I…uh…I don't know."

"I'm pretty sure I do," Kyle stated wryly. With a grin on his face, he handed the sopping sponge to the guard and said, "Here. _You_ clean the latrine."

Kyle raced out of the room, leaving the guard dumbstruck, standing there holding a wet sponge.

* * *

"GUARDS! ASSEMBLE!" The king shouted. All of the guards in the keep fell in line in front of the king in order for his royal "choosing" ritual, and Steve and Kyle stood right beside one another. The king looked around at all of the guards, and examined each one. "Hmm…let's see. I choose…" the king held out a finger in pointing that was drawing closer to Kyle and Steve. Kyle got a look of excitement on his face as the finger drew closer to him.

"…you."

The finger was pointing at Steve. Kyle's jaw fell to the floor.


	9. Chapter 9: The Gold Room

Steve and the king walked into the large room. It was lined from wall to wall with nothing but gold and diamonds. The king immediately scooped up a handful of gold nuggets and began meticulously sorting them. Meanwhile, Steve recounted the rest of the conversation he had with the man in the dungeon.

* * *

"Oh, I might have something else that would be useful to you." The man slid a brick from the wall and revealed a small cubby, filled to the brim with gun powder.

"Jeez! How did you get all of that?" Steve questioned, surprised.

"Creepers wander in here from time to time. When they do, they usually can't seem to find their way out, and eventually die of starvation. Sometimes, if I lure them in just before they kick the bucket, I can reach the powder that they leave behind. I've been saving it for just such an occasion." He took two massive handfuls of the black powder and handed it to Steve. "Here, take this and mix it with some sand. You will be able to create some useable explosives, in case the milk poisoning goes awry. "

"Thank you very much sir. May Notch bless you." Steve ran out of the dungeon, hearing the call of the king. Serendipitously, he happened to run past the king's royal cactus farm, and immediately pulled some sand from inside of the room.

* * *

"MMMMMMMMMMM-ahhhhhhh….." the king inhaled the smell of his fortune from around him, oblivious of almost anything else in the room. Steve slowly turned around and locked the door behind him, making sure the king did not hear him.

"Excuse me, sire?"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I'M BUSY!" the king shouted loudly.

Steve pulled his explosives out of his pack and placed them on the ground in front of him. He then took out his flint and steel. The king immediately backed away and dug his hand underneath a pile of gold, terrified.

"Your tyranny has gone on long enough! I am here to free these poor Testificates from your-"

BOOM!

Steve was knocked backwards from the force of the explosion. He looked up and saw that his explosive hadn't gone off, and that the door behind him was no longer existent. As he looked up from the ground, he saw Kyle staring down at him, menacingly.

"Guards! Take this perpetrator to the dungeon at once!" Kyle shouted.


	10. Chapter 10: 'Dang Man, You're Good'

Kyle kicked Steve into the cell by the seat of his pants. Steve landed on the ground butt first, and turned around just as Kyle shut the door to Steve's cell. Steve was immediately furious, but Kyle stood at the cell door smirking.

"What the heck, Kyle? What is your problem?!"

"Guards, leave me with this slime. I think I should teach him a lesson."

The guards accompanying Kyle nodded their heads and left the dungeon. When they did, Kyle couldn't help but let out a giggle. "Man," Kyle said, "NPC's are _so_ stupid!"

"I…I don't follow."

"I climbed my way up the entire chain of command just because nobody keeps track of which guard is which! Within a couple of hours, I went from cleaning the lavatory to being offered the position of personal guard to the king himself!"

Steve was furious up until he heard that last part. He then hatched an idea. "Kyle, you know by now that the king takes his nap at midday, and then has his milk afterwards, right?"

"Well, duh! That's required for every guard to know," Kyle scoffed.

"Well, an inmate gave me the idea to put poison in his drink, and I think that you would be in a perfect position to do it."

"Okay…do you have the poison?"

"…no."

"Well, where am I supposed to find it?"

"I HAVE SOME!" the Testificate in the other cell yelled, shocking Steve and Kyle out of their conversation. Kyle walked over to the Testificate and took a bottle of poison that the Testificate held.

"How do you get these things?" Steve questioned keenly.

"What? It's easy to ferment spider eyes when you're sentenced to life in jail."

"Dang man. You're good."

* * *

Kyle walked up to the king's chambers carrying some milk. He knocked on the door, requesting to come in.

"Yes yes, very good," the king lazily said. The king had just finished taking his nap, and was still a little dazed. Kyle handed the king a bucket of milk.

"Oh guard! Come hither," the king said. As he did, a guard entered the room and saluted to the king. "Guard, please test this milk to see if it holds any toxins."

The guard nodded and grabbed the bucket. Kyle quickly became anxious, and just as the guard was about to take a sip of the poisoned milk, Kyle intervened.

"WAIT!" Kyle shouted. The guard and the king looked at Kyle with confusion. Kyle, regaining his composure, simply said, "Allow me, your majesty."

"Oh my! How wonderful it is to have such loyal guards!" The king dismissed the other guard and Kyle picked up the bucket of milk. Kyle quickly took another bucket that he had and poured more milk into that bucket in order to fool the king. Kyle slurped down the milk and looked at the king. The king, seeing that Kyle hadn't died grotesquely, impatiently asked for his milk back. Kyle slyly replaced the bucket of regular milk in his hand with the bucket of poisoned milk, and handed it to the king.

"*sluuuuuurrrrpslurpslurpslurp slurpGULP* Ahhhh…that was deli-" The king suddenly stopped talking. The milk fell out of his hands and on to the floor, quickly followed by the king himself. The king then looked up at Kyle in agony. Kyle felt the need to say something, so in the coolest tone he could muster, he stated:

"Tell your mom I said 'hi.'"

The king's eyes glazed over and soon the king stopped breathing. Kyle picked up the king and dragged him over to the trash chute, and then promptly tossed him into the hole and closed the lid.

* * *

Kyle assembled all of the guards in the king's throne room. "My fellow guards," he began, "I have some disheartening news. Our beloved king…was assassinated this afternoon." Kyle held back crocodile tears as all of the guards looked at one another. One at the back of the room shouted.

"Thank Notch!"

All of the other guards began to laugh and whoop. Kyle was now extremely confused.

"We hated working for that guy! Maybe now we can actually guard someone worth protecting," one guard said to Kyle. Kyle, still a little confused, remembered Steve down in the dungeon.

"Someone needs to go down and-"

"What, you don't think I can pick a lock?" Steve entered the room accompanied by the other Testificate. As they walked to the throne, Steve began to speak, "My fellow guards, you need a ruler who is going to think of your needs before the needs of himself. You need a ruler who will not greedily withhold your pay and valuable resources just to suit his needs. You need…" Steve walked the Testificate over to the throne and sat him down. He placed a gold helmet on the Testificates head. "…this man. He was the one behind the grand plan to assassinate the king. His resourcefulness in his time of despair will surely prove to be invaluable to him as a ruler. Does anyone oppose this new king?"

The guards, silently, began to fall to their knees and bow. The Testificate in the throne smiled.

"Long live Testifiking!" Steve shouted.

"HUUZAH!"


	11. Chapter 11: Under the Sea

"Thank you for all of your help. Now that we have a new king, we can make a fresh start. Are you sure that you can't stay longer?"

"No, thank you," Steve said, "We need to be on our way. We're looking for a notorious Testificate thief."

"Oh my…well, good luck. If you ever need anything, feel free to stop by."

Steve and Kyle waved the Testificates in the city goodbye and started walking back into the forest. Steve began to look at the map.

"So, where are we supposed to be going?" Kyle said.

"Well, I'm not quite sure…"

"Hmm…maybe if start trying to-whoa!" SPLASH!

Steve looked up from the map just long enough to fall into the water along with Kyle. When Steve surfaced, he noticed that the water tasted rather salty.

"Whoa," Kyle said in bewilderment.

Steve turned around and saw what Kyle was looking at. A vast ocean stood before the both of them, and Steve and Kyle admired it's beauty.

"How are we going to cross this?" Kyle asked.

"We'll build boats," Steve stated.

* * *

Steve and Kyle collected a few stacks of wood from the surrounding trees and eventually fashioned them into two small, sea-faring vessels. "Okay, let's get going," Steve said.

Kyle and Steve started sailing along the water. It was nightfall by the time that Steve and Kyle had started sailing, so the monsters on the mainland continued to attack from time to time. However, the monsters were no match for the speed of the boats. Suddenly, Kyle shouted "Dude! Look at this!"

Steve immediately looked down beneath the surface of the water, and just as he did, he crashed into a swimming creeper. The creeper did explode, but since it was in the water, it didn't make much of an impact on anything. Kyle, still in his boat, stayed hovering over something that was shining underneath of the water. "What is it?" Kyle questioned.

"I don't know," Steve said, swimming alongside Kyle's boat. Steve drew in a large breath of air and sunk beneath the surface. As he did, the bright light became a glowing piece of…glass? Steve looked intently through the glass, and dimly saw a flash of brown moving around on the other side. Apparently, the figure on the other side of the glass saw him as well, and began rushing in the opposite direction. Steve began to feel himself running out of air. Steve frantically swam towards the surface of the water, his muscles growing weaker with every stroke upwards that he took. He heard Kyle shouting to him and reaching out a hand to him, but just as Steve was about to reach the surface, he passed out.


	12. Chapter 12: Dumb Struck

Steve woke up with a start in a bed. Steve quickly looked around him and saw himself inside of a small house. "Oh great, not this again," he thought to himself. He looked down and saw that he wasn't wearing any of his iron armor, and that he didn't have anything in his pack. Steve looked up and saw a chest in the corner of the room. He got up from the bed and walked over to the chest. Steve was relieved to find that his things were all inside of the chest. Steve put his armor back on and grabbed his things. He walked out of the small house.

Steve was struck dumb.

He looked up and saw a massive sky of crystal blue water above him, barricaded by a barrier of glass. He looked around and saw massive buildings which nearly touched the top of the dome. In the streets rushed swarms of Testificates, and as he tried to process this all at once, Steve felt light-headed. He began to swoon, but as he did, he was caught by a young Testificate.

"Hey buddy! Watch where you're fallin'!" the Testificate said playfully.

"Whu-where am I?" Steve said in bewilderment.

"You are in our lovely city under the ocean! We don't have any problems with monsters, greed, or the outside world. It is a paradise for Testificates."

"Hmm…sounds too good to be true."

"Maybe it does, but nonetheless, it is true!" the Testificate said jubilantly.

"I see…so, who are you?"

"Oh! Where are my manners?" The young Testificate bowed gracefully and said, "My name is Teentificate. My father runs the tavern over on the other side of town, and I think you could use something to drink." Before Steve could say "no", the Testificate eagerly grabbed Steve by the hand and dragged him along the city's streets to a rather well-kept tavern.

* * *

Steve and Teentificate sat on some bar stools and sipped some milk. The barkeeper, Testinebriate, stood behind the counter talking to Steve.

"So, stranger, where are you from?"

"Um…above?"

"Heh heh heh…yeah," the barkeeper chuckled, "we don't get many of you visitors from up above much."

"This city sure is amazing," Steve mentioned.

"Oh yeah…it's alright I guess, if you like livin' in a bubble. But most people never even seen the light of day, or felt it. Now me, I was one of the original founders of our city. We kinda felt that we needed an escape from all the evil that dwells on the surface. And what better place to escape the surface than under the water?"

"I guess I can't argue with that," Steve stated. He got up from his bar stool and said, "Well, I've got a stupid person to find. See you later." Steve walked out and scratched his nose.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kyle had dove under the surface in pursuit of Steve. He was fortunate to find a large entryway to the huge dome of glass, but unfortunate when he stepped inside. Kyle was immediately assaulted by three guards with iron swords.

"Halt! No outsiders beyond this point without an escort!"

"I'm…sorry?" Kyle said stupidly in confusion.

"Oh, not yet, but you're going to be" one of the guards said menacingly.

"Why is it that every time we find a new village, we manage to get arrested?" Kyle thought to himself as the guards bound his hands behind his back.


	13. Chapter 13: The Curse of the City

"Kyle? Where are you, man?" Steve called out in the street. Many of the Testificates were looking at Steve with disdain, but Steve didn't really care. All that Steve cared about was trying to find Kyle, and the enormous itch on his nose. Steve decided to go to the police station to get the word out about his missing companion. Steve walked in to the police station.

"Good day to you, sir," the man behind the desk said, "My name is Tesheriffcate, but most folks just call me 'sheriff.' What can I do you for?"

"I'm looking for a blond haired man named Kyle. Have you seen him?"

"No sir. We ain't got nobody but Testificates in this here village of ours.

"Wait, what? But I'm not a Testificate," Steve said with concern.

"I wouldn't be too sure there, pard. Take a look fer yerself." The sheriff held up a mirror to Steve. Steve saw himself in the mirror, but his head had become more elongated and his nose had grown tremendously in size. Steve could also feel his armor beginning to slip off of his body. The sheriff was right! Steve was turning into a Testificate! Steve frantically ran outside in the direction of the bar.

* * *

Kyle was kicked in is rear into a jail cell. Only this jail cell wasn't as impermeable as the last one, seeing as it was made of sandstone and iron bars. Nevertheless, Kyle was in jail for some reason or another, and he didn't have any inkling as to why. He looked around and saw that there were other inmates in there along with him. All of them seemed to be afraid of Kyle, though.

"What is going on here?" Kyle questioned

All of the Testificates stood in the corner of the cell, cowering in fear. One small Testificate stepped forward and spoke in a mortified tone.

"You…you're not from the city, are you?"

"No, I'm not. And I need to find my friend Steve so we can get out of here!"

"But…but…no one leaves the city. No one."

"But we need to leave! We're looking for a thief!" Kyle shouted. The Testificates now looked at Kyle not only with fear but with confusion.

"Whu…what's a 'thief'?" the small Testificate uttered.

"What? You don't know what a 'thief' is? A thief is someone who takes things that don't belong to them."

"Oh…we've never had anything like that in our city. Our city is a peaceful place. And no one ever leaves."

"Surely you guys have had people down here before besides yourselves!"

"Yes. Yes we have." Kyle heard a deep voice from the cell opposite him. He saw an old Testificate grabbing the bars inside of his cell. The Testificate hung his head in shame. "We have had people like you before…players. But we made sure to get rid of people like you in due time. Eventually, everyone becomes part of the city. It consumes your free will, and traps you here forever."

"Whu…what happened to those people?" Kyle said now with fear.

"All I can say is this: if someone offers you something to drink, or something to eat, or any kind of medical care, _refuse._ They put things…in the food, the medicine, the milk…things that turn you…into a Testificate."

Kyle looked with an expression of terror at the man in the opposite cell. "I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! I HAVE TO HELP MY FRIEND STEVE!" Kyle jostled the bars back and forth, but alas, they did not budge. He heard a small sound from one of the Testificates behind him, and when he turned around, the Testificate was pointing to the pickaxe around Kyle's waist. The guards hadn't bothered to take any of his things, and Kyle's face turned bright red as he began to pick away at the iron bars.

* * *

Steve burst through the doors of the bar. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" he shouted ferociously.

"My dear man, we have assimilated you!" the barkeeper said cheerfully. "You are now on your way to becoming a member of our wonderful city!"

Steve was about to jump over the counter to attack the barkeeper, but blacked out in mid-air.


	14. Chapter 14: Te'Steve'icate

Testeveicate woke up in his house. He looked through his chest and pulled out a stone hoe. "Time to go down to the farms!" Testeveicate said enthusiastically.

* * *

Two guards sat in chairs leaned up against a wall outside of the jail cells in the police station. Kyle quickly smashed through the bricks of the wall and snuck past the guards, accompanied by the Testificate that was in the cell opposite Kyle. As they quietly snuck their way out of the police station, Kyle began to have a miniature panic attack.

"Well this is flippin fantastic! I have no one to help me now!" Kyle shouted frantically. He was quickly met with an expressionless slap to the face by the Testificate. Kyle shook his head from the force of the slap and mellowed out. "Okay…I think I'm okay now…" Kyle began, "Now, how are we going to find Steve, and how are we going to cure him if he's been turned into a Testificate?"

"Back before we came down to the city," the Testificate explained, "we had an extensive collection of literature on this subject. The anatomy of a Testificate, however, is knowledge that has been dead for years. We would need to find those archaic tomes in order to sort this out. The only problem is…they were stolen!"

"By who?" Kyle said with anticipation.

"I cannot say for sure, but I would be willing to bet anything that it was by the same person who has taken your treasure. You must leave the city at once, and go and find this thief!"

"How on earth am I supposed to leave the city? There are guards at every turn, and they all know that I'm not a Testificate! And, even if I did manage to get out of the city, we're underneath twenty tons of water!"

"Leave that to me."

* * *

Testeveicate wiped some sweat off of his brow and continued to till the field and plant a seed in each one of the places he had tilled. It felt almost natural to him, and he wasn't quite sure how he had managed to acquire this skill with such ease and precision after such a small amount of time living in the city. After all, he had only just emigrated here less than a day ago, and before that, his memory draws a blank. Testevicate continued tilling the field.

* * *

Kyle and the Testificate went into a small hut on the very outskirts of the city. The only thing that was in the tiny domicile was a trapdoor with a ladder leading down into a hole. Kyle reluctantly crawled into the hole and began to descend down the ladder. "This way," the Testificate pointed. His finger led to a very long and narrow hallway, dimly lit with torches every now and then. At the end of the long hallway was another ladder leading back up.

It was about midnight when the Testificate and Kyle came out of the small house on the surface world. They had emerged in the mountainous regions just outside the forest. "Oh great! Steve had all of the maps, and I don't have a clue as to where to go!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Be patient, my friend. Everything will be all right. For now, go try to find that evil Testificate. I will go back into the city and begin trying as best as I can to create some form of antidote."

"You wouldn't have any possible clue as to where the thief might be, do you?"

"Well, actually, yes. The thief that you search for is known as Testhieficate, correct?"

"Yeah. How did you know that?" Kyle questioned.

"Well," the Testificate began, "he was one of the original people who had come to the city looking for a place to escape from the pressures of the surface world. Of course, being the person that he was,  
avoiding the evil that dwelt on the surface meant more lax security on things such as precious metals and other valuable things. He stole diamonds, gold, wood, wheat, armor, weapons…almost anything he could get his hands on. But one day, he slipped up and we caught him. Testhieficate was given a choice between banishment and death. Obviously, he chose the former, and the last thing anyone remembered him doing was heading east away from the city. That would be your best bet."

Still a little shocked, Kyle rushed a "thank you" and began to run away from the Testificate.

"WAIT!" the Testificate shouted.

"What?"

The Testificate held up his hand and pointed, saying, "East of the city would be this way."

Kyle rubbed his forehead in shame and began walking in the direction the Testificate was pointing to.

* * *

The Testificate climbed back down the ladder. As soon as hit foot touched the stone on the ground, he was met with a menacing sound.

"FREEZE!"


	15. Chapter 15: Man's Best Friend

"You're under arrest, you filthy slime!" The guard grabbed the Testificate's hands and bound them with chains behind his back. The Testificate met eyes with the guard that bound him, and gave him a menacing scowl. The Testificate was taken in chains to the courthouse of the city.

A judge sat upon a large chair in the middle of the courtroom. With a booming voice, the judge began to speak.

"We have grown tired of your transgressions against our beloved utopia. We have given you every chance to rehabilitate yourself, yet you still refuse. Therefore, we have no choice but to sentence you to death."

As if time was passing by at mach speed, the Testificate soon found himself in the middle of a dark cobblestone room. A Testificate in a black hood stood before him, holding a tremendous iron axe.

"Testificate, do you have any final words before you are put to death for all of your evil?"

The Testificate was made to bend down and placed his head upon the chopping block in front of him, neck exposed. He saw the hooded Testificate raise the axe, and then he closed his eyes.

"Hurry, Kyle," he softly whispered. His head fell to the floor with a thud.

* * *

Testeveicate wiped all of the sweat off of his brow. He must've tilled and grown at least thirty stacks of wheat that day, which would be enough to stock the city for a long time. Testeveicate went back to his home and put his stone hoe inside of his chest. He then walked down to the local bar for a well deserved drink.

When Testeveicate walked into the bar, he met eyes with the barkeeper. The barkeeper, however, turned away and didn't look Testeveicate directly in the face. Testeveicate sat on one of the bar stools.

"I'll take some milk," he said plainly. The barkeeper nonchalantly picked up a bucket and handed it to Testeveicate. "Thank you," Testeveicate said politely.

"Don't mention it," the barkeeper mumbled. Testeveicate couldn't quite put his finger on it, but for some reason, the barkeeper's voice seemed really familiar to him. He associated the voice with…hatred? Why would he hate the barkeeper?

* * *

The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon as Kyle continued walking through the mountains. Kyle held his head low and walked along the hills, his heart melancholy and full of sadness. Without warning, Kyle felt a small spike of cold touch his bare neck. He looked up from the ground and saw that it was snowing. He also saw that there was a myriad of pine trees laced with a thick blanket of white snow which lay before him. "Great," Kyle said to himself, "another dense forest that I'll probably get lost in."

"ARF!"

Kyle was taken aback by the bark that he heard. He drew out his sword and began cautiously inching forward. He heard the barking noise coming closer.

"ARF!"

Kyle was becoming more and more fearful with each passing moment. He was wildly looking in all directions, trying to find the faintest glimpse of where the noise was coming from.

"ARF!"

Kyle could feel the sound waves come from where the noise was produced. Kyle slowly turned around, sword in hand, and saw a wolf standing before him.

"ARF!"

"AHH!" Kyle screamed.

Kyle fell on his bum and dropped his sword. The wolf instinctively picked up the sword in its teeth and set it down in front of Kyle. Kyle, still sitting on the ground, picked up his sword and put it back in its sheath. "Huh. What are you doing out here, little buddy? Are you lost?"

Kyle searched on the wolf for some form of identification or ownership, but saw none. The wolf promptly jumped upon Kyle and began profusely licking him in his face. Kyle, between giggles, said, "Stoppit! Bleh! Heh heh heh!" He was then reminded of his journey and quickly stood up. The wolf sat down in front of him. "Hmm…hey wolf thingy, do you thing you can help me?"

"ARF!" the wolf exclaimed with excitement.

Kyle pulled the chest lid out of his pack and held it up to the wolf. "I need you to help me find the man who made this print. Can you sniff him out?"

The dog sniffed the lid extensively for a solid five minutes, and then began to run off into the forest, prompting Kyle to chase after him.


	16. Chapter 16: The Library

_[Author's Note: This chapter is heavily inspired by the episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender entitled "The Library". Enjoy!]_

"ARF ARF ARF ARF!" The wolf was barking manically as Kyle chased wildly after it. Just as Kyle was about to catch up to the wolf, the wolf took a sharp turn to the right, and Kyle slammed face first into a tree. Kyle fell on his bum, and the wolf immediately came over to Kyle and began to lick him in his face. As Kyle came to, the wolf stepped away from him and turned to face the opposite direction. When Kyle looked up, he couldn't believe his eyes.

In front of Kyle stood an enormous tower made of red bricks and covered almost halfway up the side with a snow bank. The wolf whimpered softly as Kyle tried to take in the whole building, but given its massive size, he failed to do so.

"Whoa," Kyle said in bewilderment, "how are we supposed to get in there?"

"ARF!" The wolf immediately dived head first into a snow bank. Kyle heard a large creaking noise coming from the other side of the tower, and when he went to investigate, he noticed a large set of doors standing open, with the wolf sitting just inside, its head cocked to one side. Kyle stepped inside of the doors, and they shut behind him on their own. Kyle didn't pay much attention to the doors, as he was too busy focusing on the next astonishing thing to catch his eye.

Books.

Books everywhere.

The whole entire tower was lined from top to bottom with nothing but books, lit periodically with dim torches. Once again, Kyle could not believe his eyes.

"ARF!" The wolf began again to run up a staircase that was close by. Kyle slowly followed, still trying to process the myriad of literature which surrounded him. As he arrived at around the fifth floor, Kyle nearly tripped over the wolf, which was sniffing at the ground wildly. The wolf then turned around to Kyle and sat down, whimpering softly. It seemed that the scent had gone cold.

Kyle began to survey the tomes which surrounded him. He pulled a book out of the shelf, entitled "Anatomy of the Common Non-Playable Character". He noticed that there were some fingerprints on the book, covered over by a thin layer of dust. Kyle took the lid out of his pack and compared the two sets of prints side by side. After staring at them for a solid five minutes, Kyle came to the conclusion that the prints did not match.  
"Hmm…well, if these prints don't match, who do they belong to?" Kyle publically questioned. The wolf cocked its head at Kyle in confusion.

"They belong to me," a voice boomed from above.

* * *

That night, Testeveicate went to bed feeling extremely exhausted. He passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Steve was in the middle of a large field. He saw a huge figure blocking out the sun. What was it? It seemed to be flying right at him! Steve began to run away, and as the figure got closer, it revealed itself to be a large…

Testeveicate woke in his bed with a startled jump and in a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, he slowly lay back down on his bed, and began to drift off to sleep again.


	17. Chapter 17: The Librarian

Kyle saw an enormous shadow coming down the staircase menacingly. He put a frightened, trembling hand on his sheathed sword, and the wolf took an attack stance and growled ferociously. The shadow came closer and closer to Kyle, and as the figure turned the corner to meet Kyle, Kyle began to snicker a little bit.

Before Kyle stood a short Testificate with large thick glasses that covered its entire face. "…and I would thank you to kindly keep your grubby little fingers off of my precious books!" the small Testificate said in a high voice.

Kyle couldn't help himself from laughing at the small Testificate. The Testificate, with a look of annoyance, pulled a large book from out of its case and whacked Kyle over the head with it, knocking his helmet off.

"OW! What was that for?" Kyle shouted, his head throbbing.

"SHHHHH! You're in a library!" the Testificate whispered. "And the smack upside the head was for laughing at my short stature! I would expect someone as stupid as you inherently look would know how it feels to be ridiculed!"

"HEY!...are you calling me stupid?" Kyle asked dumbly.

The wolf put its paw over its face, as if to face palm.

* * *

Testeveicate woke for the third time in a row that night. He couldn't figure out what the figure was that kept coming for him, but he was extremely afraid of the implications. The next day, he went to the church to seek out the help of the local religious official.

"I just don't know, Tesfathercate. What are these dreams supposed to mean?"

The reverend looked at Testeveicate pensively for a moment, and then replied, "Perhaps there is something that is bothering you subconsciously, young Testificate?"

"Well, I was in the bar the other day, and for some reason, I don't like the barkeeper. I don't know why, but I just don't like him."

"Well, maybe you should try to make amends with him. Whatever he did to you, or you did to him, I'm sure you will be able to find a way to resolve your differences."

"Okay Father. Thank you."

Testeveicate walked out of the church, still feeling confused.

* * *

"Now, may I ask why you have intruded upon my sanctuary at this time?" the Testificate squeaked.

"Um…my wolf…he was…well…I'm looking for someone," Kyle finally stuttered to say.

"Hmmm….who is the person that you are seeking?"

"He's a man named Testhieficate."

"Oh! You mean that evil man who came in here to try and take my book, 'Satanic Cultural Worship Rituals'!"

"Wait…what?!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Yes. I must've read that book at least 386 times. It describes in detail all the appropriate steps necessary in order to summon demons. I thought it was a rather interesting piece of fiction, but I suppose that man didn't think it was such."

"WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Kyle shouted frantically.

"SHHHHH! YOU. ARE. IN. A. LIBRARY," the Testificate whispered loudly.

"Right…okay…gotta focus… do you have anything that might help me change my friend back to normal?"

"Change him back?" the Testificate questioned, "What did he turn into? A pig? A zombie?"

"A Testificate."

"OHHHH!...that's easy," the Testificate scoffed, "I thought it would be something difficult, like a pig or something. Here, take this," the Testificate handed a bottle of blue liquid to Kyle, "I have encountered this dozens of times. Escapees from that wretched city usually find their way here. Surprisingly, most of the people that they turn into Testificates remain sentient, so usually, no damage is done."

"Well thank you sir, I have to get this back to my friend post-toothpaste!" Kyle immediately began running down the stairs and burst through the door of the library, the wolf following closely behind.

"THAT'S 'POSTHASTE'!" the Testificate screamed.


	18. Chapter 18: Escape from the City

Kyle ran as fast as he could to the small shack outside of the city, with the wolf right behind him. They slowly descended down the ladder, and made their way back to the house which was on the inside of the city. However, when they made it back up to the streets of the city, Kyle heard a menacing call from a guard.

"FREEZE!" the guard shouted. Kyle turned around nonchalantly and saw three guards standing in front of him, each with a stone sword in their hand. Kyle put his hands over his head and looked down to the wolf. The wolf looked back up at him and whimpered quizzically. Kyle very slyly smiled and winked at the wolf, and the wolf began to wag its tail. "You're coming with us, freak!" the policeman said, grabbing Kyle's hands.

"Sic 'em, Wolfy!" Kyle shouted. The wolf's eyes turned a dark shade of crimson, and the wolf violently began to lash out on one of the guards. The two other guards ran over to assist the other one, and through screams of terror and agony, the wolf maliciously chomped on the other two guards as well, bringing all three guards to their knees. Kyle took this opportunity to kick all three guards in the head, knocking each one out, and took all three of their swords. "Good boy, Wolfy!" The wolf came out of its maniacal trance and looked up at Kyle with enthusiasm. "Alright, now let's find Steve." Kyle pulled out one of the blank maps that Steve had held and presented it to the wolf. The wolf then sniffed it ferociously and began to run down the street, Kyle following closely behind.

* * *

Testeveicate looked out his window. He felt lost, somehow. He didn't know why, but he didn't feel at home. Testeveicate sullenly sat upon his bed and placed his head in his hands. He began to hear something strange outside…screaming?

…yes, it was definitely screaming. Who could it be? Testeveicate walked up to his door and opened it. Kyle, accompanied by the wolf, was being chased by numerous angry guards. He didn't know why, but Testeveicate felt as if he had witnessed this same thing before. The wolf ran into Testeveicate's house, quickly followed by Kyle, who violently slammed the door behind him and placed two blocks of stone in front of it as a barricade.

"My goodness! Who are you and why are there so many guards following you?" Testeveicate demanded. Kyle turned around to Testeveicate with a hairy eyeball of insanity and immediately shoved the opened potion into Testeveicate's mouth. Testeveicate, having swallowed the potion, fell to his knees and passed out.

* * *

A loud siren pierced the air as night fell on the city. "ATTENTION ALL TESTIFICATES," a booming voice announced, "THE ZOMBIE PROTOCOL IS NOW IN AFFECT. ALL TESTIFICATES WHO ARE NOT INSIDE THEIR HOMES AFTER SUN SET WILL BE TERMINATED. REPEAT, ALL TESTIFICATES WHO ARE NOT INSIDE THEIR HOMES AFTER SUN SET WILL BE TERMINATED. THE INTRUDING PLAYERS ARE NOW BEING DISPOSED OF AS WE SPEAK. THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR PANIC."

Steve woke up in his bed with a massive headache. All he saw was Kyle trying to defend himself from a couple of zombies that had forced their way into the house, and Kyle's mouth open wide, as if he were screaming. As Steve's other senses returned, he began to hear the loud siren and the angry moans of the zombies outside. He heard the wolf barking and growling madly at the zombies who were trying to break their way through the wooden walls of the house. He then saw a stone sword lying on the floor near Kyle, and immediately picked it up.

"Oh thank Notch you're alr-DIE ZOMBIE DIE!- alright Steve! I could really use your- GET AWAY YOU PIECE OF ROTTING MEAT!- help!" Kyle screamed. Steve picked up the sword and looked at it with disdain, and broke it in half. "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" Kyle shouted as he whacked a zombie across the face. Steve looked into the chest in the corner of the room and pulled out his iron armor and his diamond sword.

"I've missed you," Steve whispered. Steve got a sly smile on his face and pulled the sword out of its sheath. Steve sliced away madly at the zombies surrounding the door, and both he and Kyle walked outside.

What was once a bustling city of Testificates was now overrun by a swarm of nothing but zombies. The siren was still going off above them, with the announcer going off periodically. "I will stay here and hold them off as best as I can! You and your wolf go and try to find some way to get out of here!" Steve screamed. Kyle began to run in the opposite direction, and the wolf regretfully followed. Steve held his sword in his hand. "Alright ladies, let's dance."

* * *

Kyle and the wolf ran as fast as they could to try to reach the house with the exit out of the city. Kyle then ran right past a sign that he hadn't noticed before. It read:

"WARNING. EXPLOSIVES. NO FLAMES ALLOWED."

Kyle got an insane idea, and went inside and began to grab as many explosives as his rectangular arms could carry.

* * *

Steve threw his blade in the air in front of his and front flipped over a horde of zombies. The sword landed right in the head of one zombie, and Steve pulled it out of the zombies head and sliced through two more in front of him. Steve kicked a zombie behind him in the shin and brought it to its knees, and then turned around and sliced its head off. Through his peripheral vision, Steve did a 180 maneuver and sliced through the necks of five more zombies. He turned his blade in his hand and began to stab behind him, drilling a zombie in the abdomen each time. Steve noticed an iron sword which had been dropped by one of the zombies, and instantly picked it up. Steve pulled out the other sword and held it up to his neck along with his diamond sword. He began to run in a straight line in front of him into the crowd of zombies with both the blades raised. As he ran, he sliced clean through the head of every zombie that he ran past.

BOOM!

Steve was immediately shaken out of his badass state by the sound of the explosion. He turned around sharply.

BOOM!

He saw Kyle coming down the street, accompanied by the wolf. "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! IT'S GOING TO FLOOD!"

BOOM!

Steve looked and saw a massive tidal wave begin to take over the streets. Just as Kyle and the wolf caught up with Steve, Steve jumped up to one of the houses and brought Kyle and the wolf up with him. They both watched as the wave engulfed the horde of zombies in the street, and Kyle felt really smart.

"You realize that it's eventually going to flood the whole place, and we are still trapped in here," Steve casually mentioned. Kyle's face instantly drained of color, and Kyle got a look of terror on his face. Kyle then got an idea.

"Follow me! We can use the rooftops!" Kyle shouted. Steve and the wolf immediately began to run alongside Kyle whilst they heard more explosions coming from around the city.

"Dang man! How many of those explosives did you lay down?" Steve hurriedly questioned as he ran.

"Not many…just….five stacks," Kyle casually mentioned. They began to hear more explosions as they reached the house with the manhole leading out of the city. Kyle broke through the roof of the house and fell into the already flooded room, quickly followed by Steve and the wolf. They ran through the corridor and up the ladder.

* * *

Steve and Kyle could feel the earth shaking as they began to see dead zombies floating to the top of the water. Steve couldn't help but wonder what happened to the Testificates, but he didn't really care. Whatever had happened, they probably deserved it.

"OH! Steve!" Kyle exclaimed, "There's someone I want you to meet! He lives in the snowy forest past the mountains! C'mon!" And with that, Steve and Kyle began to roam into the mountains, and they didn't look back at the city.

* * *

The barkeeper lay on the sand in front of the sea, his head buried in sand. He got up and shook all of the sand out of his mouth, and then got up and began walking towards the mountains. Rage filled his eyes and a fire burned his heart.


	19. Chapter 19: Into the Inferno

Steve and Kyle walked through the snowy forest. Steve couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was behind them, and he periodically performed double-takes to make sure there was no one else around but him, Kyle and Wolfy, Kyle's new pet.

"Kyle, I feel like someone is…stalking us."

"Don't be silly, Steve," Kyle said with a scoff, "everybody that was in that huge dome all drowned."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," Steve said sullenly.

"Well, I can tell you what _will_ make you feel better! Look up there!" Kyle pointed to the large tower that he had found before. Kyle burst through the doors of the library.

Everything inside of the building was on fire.

* * *

"I have brought the book you requested."

"Good, good."

"What else shall you have me do, sire?"

The dark voice pondered for a brief moment. "Burn it to the ground," it said callously.

* * *

"This is what you were so excited to show me?" Steve said sarcastically. Kyle immediately ran into the inferno, quickly followed by Wolfy.

Kyle looked around frantically as the smoke surrounded him and filled his lungs. As he and Wofly ran up to nearly the top floor of the tower, Wolfy began to bark wildly at a large flame that burned before Kyle. Kyle looked closer and saw the librarian lying on the floor, unconscious. Stupidly running through the flames, he immediately ran and hoisted the Testificate over his shoulder. A large bookcase from above came toppling down and shattered the staircase which led down to the bottom floor. Another also came down and blew a large hole through the floor, leading down to the bottom with a fiery demise to meet them. "Well, here goes nothing. Come on, Wolfy!" Wolfy gave an energetic bark, and he and Kyle both jumped down through the hole and onto the burning bookcase. Kyle and Wolfy barely avoided another toppling bookshelf as they ran through the doors. Kyle lay the Testificate down in the snow.

"Kyle," Steve said in bewilderment, "you just saved a Testificate by jumping thirteen stories out of a burning building!"

"I did?" Kyle said, his legs immediately turning into jelly. Kyle fell to the ground, also unconscious. Wolfy picked Kyle up in his mouth by Kyle's collar, and Steve grabbed the Testificate and began to walk out of the forest. The building behind them came toppling to the ground.

* * *

"Kyle…"

"Kyle…"

SMACK!

Kyle was immediately jolted awake by the force of the slap to his face. Kyle was lying on the ground, accompanied by Steve and the Testificate librarian. "Whuh? Huh? Where are we?"

"Well, we carried you to a field as soon as you passed out," Steve began.

"With tremendous grief, I must say! You are quite heavy sir!" the Testificate interjected.

"Whuh…so…I saved you?" Kyle said, still jarred from his heroic rescue.

"Yes you did. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come along. I might have died."

"WAIT A SEC'!" Kyle exclaimed, immediately jumping up from the ground, "how did your library catch on fire?!"

The Testificate hung his head in sadness. "Well, my friend," he began, "you might not enjoy the tale."


	20. Chapter 20: This is Bigger than Us

_Author's Note: Sorry about the post I just let out before I posted this chapter. I was having a case of writer's block, so in order to make up for it, if you still would like to imput on what should happen next, private message me with your ideas._

Also, thank's to everyone for 2000+ views!

* * *

The Testificate regaled his tale in shame and dread.

* * *

An ominous figure burst through the doors of the library, flint and steel in hand.

"Hey! Who in Notch's name are you?" the librarian called from the top floor smugly. The figure very slowly raised its head to meet the librarian's eyes. The librarian was struck with utter terror as the figure climbed the stairs to the top floor. The librarian fell backwards onto the floor as the figure loomed over the poor soul and whispered.

"All…hail…Herobrine."

The figure then knocked the librarian upside the head, knocking him out. The figure began randomly unleashing flames about the library with his flint and steel. As he came down to bottom floor, still lighting fires, his face was momentarily revealed.

It was a Testificate. But the Testificate's eyes were white and soulless.

* * *

"I remember those eyes…those terrible, terrible eyes!" the librarian said with fear in his voice.

"Well, I'm sure whoever this guy is, we can take him!" Kyle said enthusiastically. Kyle then turned to Steve, who was staring off into space with a look of dread on his face. Kyle's face then started to turn sullen, for he realized that if a pro such as Steve was afraid of this new threat, it had to be serious.

"He said he'd be back…" Steve started, "he said he'd be back, and I ignored it!" He turned to Kyle. "Kyle, this has just become far bigger than us. We need to find players. More players. Any players! NPC's are no longer going to cut for us! We need to get help! The fate of the world depends on the players!"

Kyle stared at a sheep that roamed by, and was then snapped out of his trance. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" Kyle said stupidly. He was immediately smacked upside the head.

"FOCUS! This guy is serious business! He is literally the embodiment of the devil himself!" Steve said, now shouting. "Librarian, you are possibly the most sentient of any NPC I've met so far. You should know the locations of at least a couple of players."

"Well, technically, I cannot give you the exact names or locations of the players. However, there is a Testificate who is even more sentient than I. His name is Modificate."

Kyle and Steve looked at each other with anticipation. "We met a guy like that!" Kyle exclaimed.

* * *

Testinebriate continued to walk through the snowy forest. He passed the now burned down library, and caught a glimpse of a book buried in the snow. He shook the snow off of the book and saw the title.

"A n00b's guide to making painful weapons and junk," he read. He opened the book, and began to read. After reading for about five minutes, he started to punch a tree.


	21. Chapter 21: The Pixel Ranch

_Author's Note: I know for a fact that a lot of you who read this fan fic definitely play Minecraft. So, if you want me to possibly add your player's name to the story, and give me some distinguishable charatceristics and a setting, you can leave a review giving me the information or you can private message me.  
Thanks, and enjoy my description of my own Minecraft world, PixelKnux's Pixel Ranch._

* * *

Steve, Kyle, and the (still nameless) librarian ran as fast as they could towards the village where Modificate resided. They began to approach the village and saw the same huge mansion as they had seen before, along with Modificate whizzing around it like a mad man. He then turned and saw Steve and Kyle coming towards the village, along with the librarian struggling to keep up. Modificate flew down to meet the three of them.

"HI GUYS. WHO IS THIS?" Modificate asked, pointing to the librarian.

"This is…this is…um…" Kyle wracked his brain for any kind of memory about the librarian's name, but could find none.

"My name is Tesmarticate. I am the second most sentient Non-Playable Character in this domain, and I was once the owner of a fine collection of novels and tomes, until it was all taken away from me by that evil Testificate…"

Modificate just looked at Tesmarticate and chuckled in his robotic tone, "LOL. BOOKS. THEY R SO LST YR. ANYWY, WAT CAN I HLP U GUYZ WITH?"

"Well, Modificate, since you are the most sentient NPC, we were wondering if you knew of the whereabouts of any other players. We need to find as many as we can so that we may begin forming an army to bring down Herobrine!" Steve explained, nearly out of breath.

"OH. THAT DAM GLITCH. HES BEN A THRN IN MY SIDE 4 FAR 2 LONG." Modificate began to think, and then stated, " I DO KNOW OF 1 PLAYER. HE'S THE ONLY 1 I'VE MET OTHER THAN YOU 2."

"What is his name?" Kyle asked with anticipation.

"HE GOES BY THE PLAYER NAME _PIXELKNUX_."

Kyle and Steve both looked at each other with immense confusion. "Di-Did I hear you right?" Steve questioned, "PixelKnux?"

"That's a stupid name! Who name's their kid PixelKnux?" Kyle shouted.

"EITHR WAY, HES A LNG TIME VETEREN OF THE GAME, AND HES GOT GREAT POWER. HE TENDS TO A FARM THATS RLLY FAR SOUTH FRM HERE."

"Um…okay…well thank you…I think," Steve stuttered as he walked out of the mansion with Kyle and the librarian.

* * *

"Wow, when he said really far south, he was not kidding," Kyle said in between panting. The trio had passed over monumental mountains, scorching hot deserts, densely populated forests, and blistering cold tundra in order to finally reach the farm where PixelKnux resided.

When they arrived on the scene of the farm, they were welcomed not-so-friendly by a large man made of iron. He passed by with a glare on his face, and continued to pick flowers in the field. Steve and the librarian were focused on the massive amounts of brightly colored sheep which were all organized by which color they were. Kyle, on the other hand, was intrigued by something else.

"Um, guys…look at this."

Steve and the librarian turned to see a colossal yellow figure standing in a huge quarry, holding a pickaxe. The figure was made out of nothing but wool, and had bright red cheeks and a quirky smile.

"HEY! Get away from my Pikachu!" a voice called from behind. Steve, Kyle and the librarian all turned around at once. They saw a red jacketed man with auburn hair and large eyes. He had an iron sword on his back and carried a block of wool in his hands.

"Whoa whoa whoa…YOU built that huge thing?" Steve questioned, astonished.

"Who wants to know? Y'all better start talking, or I might need to break out the attitude adjuster," the red jacketed man said, putting his hand on his sword.

"Hey man! No need to make a fuss! I'm Steve, this is Kyle, and this NPC is Tesmarticate," Steve explained, motioning to both of them.

The red jacketed man looked with disdain at the three of them, and then pulled his hand away from his sword. "Alright then…you all better get off of my pixel ranch, or I might have to sic my iron golems on you."

"So, you're _not _PixelKnux?" Kyle asked stupidly.

"Yes I am! See?" The man turned around to reveal that his jacket had the initials "P" and "K" embroidered in bright white lettering on the back. "The name's PixelKnux. I tend to my fields and I feed my sheep, but mostly, I create works of art. Like that beauty over there," PixelKnux motioned to a large, light-tan rabbit-like structure with large red ears, a dark black jacket, and sunglasses on its face. The large structure was made almost entirely out of sand. The three of them were all once again astonished by the size of the figures surrounding them. "Now that we've all gotten to know each other better, I repeat: _get off my ranch._"

"But PixelKnux, sir, we need your help!" Kyle shouted.

"Oh…do you need some wool? I'd be more than willing to give you some in any color you want."

"Well, no," Steve began to say, but just as he did, another Testificate began to run towards PixelKnux with a sword in its hand. It was Tesinebriate, and he had figured out how to craft a stone sword.

"YEEEAAAAAAHHH!"

PixelKnux, without so much as a twitch, pulled out his sword and thrust it straight through the Testificate, killing him instantly. He then pulled his sword out of the dead Testificate carcass and re-sheathed it, without taking his eyes off of the three and without a change in his expression whatsoever. Steve looked at PixelKnux with a look of absolute shock, his jaw hanging wide open.

"Quit that Steve, you'll catch flies," Kyle said mockingly.


	22. Chapter 22: The Duel

_Author's Note: WOW! I didn't expect very many people to be giving me ideas about characters. Thanks so much! You've really inspired me with some great new ideas! Enjoy this chapter, where Steve gets a taste of power greater than his._

* * *

"Anyways, we're not here for wool! We need your help, PixelKnux!" Steve exclaimed.

"Why should I help you? _You're _the ones who are intruding upon _my _ranch! You can't just go around doing that to people!" PixelKnux said with a strong tone.

Steve hung his head, let out a deep sigh, and softly said, "It's…Herobrine."

"Nice try, but I don't believe in Herobrine. He's nothing but a myth," PixelKnux said pompously.

"No, he's not," Tesmarticate said matter-of-factly, "There is conclusive evidence to show that the spawning of demons-"

"I don't believe in demons either. I'm a man of science," PixelKnux said, interrupting the librarian.

"Please! You have to believe us! The fate of the world is at stake!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Well, when you put it that way…NO!" PixelKnux turned and let out a sharp whistle. Suddenly, two iron golems rushed behind him and towered over Steve, Kyle and the librarian menacingly. "Now…I will tell you one more time, before I forcibly have you removed. GO. AWAY!"

Seeing no other option, Steve pulled out his diamond sword and swung it at PixelKnux, who immediately unsheathed his iron sword and met Steve's blade in midair.

"You just made a huge mistake." PixelKnux said with a dark tone.

"I challenge you to a duel. If I win, then you have to come along with us." Steve stated.

"And if I win?" PixelKnux questioned.

Steve pondered for a moment, and then said "You can take Kyle."

"HEY!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Hmm…I've always wanted a lackey…it would certainly help with production around here…okay. But if we're going to duel, we are going to duel _my way._" PixelKnux pointed to the desert just south of his wheat fields. "To Blast Desert!" he exclaimed.

* * *

PixelKnux had aptly named the desert. There were enormous holes scattered about from where he had encountered Creepers. The sun beat down upon Steve and PixelKnux as they stood at attention, each with their back turned towards the other.

"Okay," Tesmarticate began, "Each player shall advance five blocks, turn, and draw your weapons. After that, all hell shall break loose." With that, the librarian ran off towards the house.

Steve and PixelKnux both began to walk away from each other. Steve turned around and pulled out his diamond sword, the blade shimmering in the sun. PixelKnux turned around and pulled out his own diamond sword, much to the surprise of Steve.

"What? You didn't honestly think I would come with anything less than my best weapons did you?" PixelKnux scoffed and held the blade high in the air. It appeared to be glowing-almost as if it were on fire. Now slightly afraid, Steve began to run at PixelKnux with his sword drawn. PixelKnux simply stood and waited until Steve was close enough, at which point he smacked Steve in the face with the bottom of his sword's handle. Steve, recoiling from the shock, was then knocked backward a good distance and immediately caught fire for some reason. PixelKnux simply stood at the other side of the duel zone with a smug look on his face, and sheathed his blade. He then pulled out a bow and arrow and fired one shot at Steve, instantly knocking him to the ground.

Steve, burned and covered in bruises from the all-too-short battle, writhed in pain on the ground. PixelKnux came over and stood over him smugly. "Now, wasn't that fun?" PixelKnux said smiling.

"Cr…Cr-" Steve struggled to say.

"What's that? Could you be saying, 'Oh mighty PixelKnux, lord of all lords, how you have bested me!'?"

"Cr…Cree…"

"Well, spit it out already!"

"CREEPER!" Steve shouted. PixelKnux turned around and was immediately blown backwards by the force of the exploding Creeper. A small slip of paper fell onto Steve as PixelKnux picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"What is that?" PixelKnux said, grabbing the paper. "'I warned you Steve…this is only the beginning'? 'Herobrine'?!"

"I _told _you!" Steve said, struggling to stand up, "Herobrine has returned, and we need help from all the players we can possibly find. He's forming an army, and we need to be ready to reciprocate."

PixelKnux looked with disbelief at the paper, and then turned to Steve with a stern expression. "Okay. I will join you guys on your quest. But before we go, I'm gonna make you all some armor and better weapons." Steve and PixelKnux began to walk back towards the house as the sun set over the desert horizon.


	23. Chapter 23: Enderlings and Redstone

Night fell over the pixel ranch, and Steve, Kyle and the librarian were all sitting by the fireplace in PixelKnux's common room. PixelKnux himself was busy in his stone labyrinth, forging iron armor and diamond swords for the team. Kyle looked outside the window, and saw a congregation of Endermen standing outside. They seemed to be huddling around something, but Kyle couldn't necessarily figure out what it was. Kyle looked over to Steve and Tesmarticate and saw that they were both sound asleep, so Kyle decided to go and investigate.

Kyle cautiously crept over to the congregation of Endermen. When Kyle got close to them, however, they all turned around and began to stare at him with disdain, jaws open wide. Kyle froze in terror, and all he could see were the purple eyes of the group of Endermen slowly encircling him.

"It is alright, my friends. He means us no harm." A soft, male voice came out of nowhere. Upon further inspection, Kyle noticed that the voice came from behind the Endermen. The Endermen began to slowly back away to reveal a small man. This man had bright purple hair which contrasted with his dark skin. He wore a midnight black jacket, and held a red bag on his hilt. He also wore very thick glasses, which magnified his purple eyes to almost the size of Ender pearls. "I am one of him."

Kyle, still shocked and a little terrified, asked, "Wh-who…are…you?"

"I am Seth. I am a special breed of player known to most as an Enderling. I have power to communicate with those of Ender race. Come, let us go back to my dwelling, for the sun rise is nigh, and I have very sensitive skin." With that, Seth began to walk into the forest, with Kyle following close behind.

* * *

Steve woke up slightly dazed, and found a set of enchanted iron armor at his feet, along with a blazing hot diamond sword. He also saw PixelKnux sitting in the chair next to him, looking contemplative.

"What's going on, PixelKnux?" Steve lazily asked.

"Oh nothing… except that Kyle is gone."

"What? He's gonna get himself killed, or worse, he's gonna kill someone," Steve sighed, "Come on, let's go find him."

PixelKnux and Steve walked outside to find the sun just beginning to rise, and saw a small teal pearl on the ground, along with a note attached to it. Steve picked up the note and read it aloud.

"'Steve, I've found another player and he has taken me back to his lair. You look for the next players, and he and I will start to come up with a plan. Kyle. P.S. he knows stuff about Endermen. I know you know about that, so there's no need to worry.' Well, alright then…as long as Kyle is supervised, I don't really care where he is."

"Well, that's a relief," PixelKnux said, "Now, you said you needed to find more players? I actually know where one lives in a snowy forest not far from here. Her name is…"

* * *

Kyle and Seth came to a clearing in the forest. "Well, here we are," Seth said contently. He gestured around, but Kyle could find nothing anywhere.

"Uh, Seth…does the sun hurt your brain, or am I blind? 'Cause there's nothing here," Kyle said quizzically.

"Oh, yes. One moment." Seth pulled out a small button and placed it on a block of stone that was in the ground. Seth pressed the button, and Kyle immediately began to hear the sound of pistons clicking and shifting and moving as a small hut arose out of the ground in front of him. The house looked like it was barely big enough to fit Seth inside, and Kyle began to grow even wearier of this strange man's sanity. Seth, however, happily walked into the hut and disappeared inside. Kyle, confused, walked inside as the house began to shrink back into the ground. Kyle quickly dove into the hole in the ground, and was met with a staircase going down. Kyle heard the final piston click as the hole above him closed up.

Kyle began to descend down into what became a massive chamber made entirely out of obsidian. The chamber was full of redstone machines and gadgets whizzing around and doing all kinds of strange things. Kyle could not believe his eyes, and as he came down to the floor of the large chamber, he was especially intrigued by a setup of explosives which was surrounded by obsidian.

"Oh, I see you've found my TNT cannon," Seth said proudly as he pulled out a switch, "allow me to show you how it functions." Seth placed the switch on a block connected to two redstone paths. A set of TNT ignited and fell into a pool of water, while another ignited on top of the cannon. The TNT in the water exploded, propelling the other charged TNT forward. It exploded upon contact with the opposite wall of obsidian.

"Dude. That. Is. Awesome." Kyle said in bewilderment.


	24. Chapter 24: Holly and the Back Story

_Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for over 3000 views! It seems that what I did in thirty chapters of Adventures of Steve has only taken me twenty-three chapters in Saga of Kyle._

_I'd also like for more of you viewers to actually post photos to the facebook page in order to let other people who read the fanfic have some sort of idea of the scenery. I posted a picture of my Pikachu pixel art on there that I'm sure you would all like. In case you still don't know, the page is PixelKnux Fan Fiction. There's also a link to in in my profile._

_Thank you to everyone, and remember to fav and follow, and review often!_

* * *

"…Holly. Holly Pearlwing. She's a close personal friend of mine, and she lives on a deserted island not far from here. Come on, let's go to the dock."

PixelKnux and Steve went over a hill to the west of the pixel ranch and found a small dock with two boats tied down. They both mounted the boats and set sail.

After about fifteen minutes, PixelKnux safely docked on the sand of a large island with a manor in the center. Steve, on the other hand, crashed straight into the coast. A wild cow passed by and mooed contently at Steve, who picked himself up and slapped the cow in the face. After picking up the pieces of the wrecked boat, PixelKnux and Steve went up to the house and knocked on the door.

A blonde girl with bright green eyes wearing nothing but iron armor opened the door and smiled at PixelKnux. "Hey PixelKnux," she cooed, "who's your friend?" Steve blushed profusely as she smiled at him.

"Holly, this is Steve. He has important news regarding a very bad situation. Steve?" PixelKnux turned to Steve, who was still blushing and stood motionless, looking into Holly's bright green eyes. PixelKnux gave Steve a nudge on the shoulder, and Steve immediately snapped out of his trance.

"Hmm? Oh right," Steve said, coming out of his trance, "Well, there's a situation regarding- CREEPER!"

A Creeper walked up behind Holly, but Holly simply turned around and scratched the Creeper on the head. The Creeper gave a small hiss of contentment and turned around and walked away. Steve, by this point, was utterly dumbfounded.

"Ya know, Steve, Kyle was right. You need to keep your mouth shut or you're going to attract flies," PixelKnux jokingly mentioned. Holly motioned for them all to come inside of her manor.

* * *

"So, Seth, we need your help. And given that you can make all these amazing machines, I think you'd be a great addition to the team." Kyle explained.

"Oh yes, absolutely. What might I be assisting you with?" Seth replied.

"Well, Steve mentioned something about how Herobrine had returned, and-"

"Hang on," Seth interrupted, pondering for a moment, "Steve? My father knew a Steve. Could they be the same person?"

"Who was your father?" Kyle inquired.

"He was the Ender King of this domain. I am his only progeny."

Seth could see the gears turning in Kyle's head before Kyle finally blurted out, "You were born from NPC's? But how?"

"My mother," Seth began to explain, "Was a genius, and she was no NPC. She could figure out the most intricate of redstone wiring, possibly even better than Notch himself. She was also beautiful, with her slim figure, auburn hair, and large blue eyes which were magnified by her glasses. My father found her one day in a field, testing one of her machines. He was instantly smitten by her big, blue eyes, and proclaimed his undying love for her…but sadly, this was not the case. Kings, as I'm sure you know, are quite frivolous in their relationships, and my father was no exception. He left my mother to raise me in this very lab, and I learned everything I know of redstone from her."

"Wow. Awesome back story dude," Kyle said, impressed, "But anyways, I meant to say that Herobrine has returned, and with your help, we could create some kind of redstone weapons to be able to defeat him."

Seth pondered for a moment, and then was struck with a bout of inspiration. "To the drawing board!"

* * *

"So, Steve, what's this about Herobrine? I thought he was only a myth," Holly asked. Steve was still blushing, and had a hard time trying to speak.

After receiving a more forceful nudge from PixelKnux, Steve replied, "Well, uh, Herobrine, uh, he's…he's real, and…we're all in big trouble unless we can stop him."

"Hmm…well, that certainly seems bad. But I bet that me and Creepsie can take him, no sweat!" She turned to the Creeper with enthusiasm, and the Creeper let out a triumphant hiss, much to the agony of Steve.

PixelKnux, chuckling a little bit at Steve's reaction, said, "Well, Holly, you're the only player I actually know. Is there anybody else that you might know who can help us?"

"As a matter of fact, my sister might be able to help. She lives in the jungle…and she's kinda loopy."


	25. Chapter 25: Crazy Kitty

"Hmmmm…" Seth hummed.

"Hmmmm…" Kyle hummed.

"Hmmmm…" Needles hummed.

Needles, otherwise known as Kyle (Kyle didn't feel too comfortable with someone else using his name) was one of Seth's closest personal friends, and had come to help with the design of the redstone weaponry to be used. He had long brown hair and blue eyes, which weren't as large as Seth's, even with Needles' glasses on. He wore nothing but dark red, along with a leather cloak pinned with needles from a dead silverfish. He, Seth, and Kyle all stood in what seemed like a board room, discussing the intricate redstone wiring for the new weapon.

"So," Seth began," If we put this dispenser here, and fill it full of arrows, we can also divert some of the redstone signal towards another dispenser which automatically primes 2 TNT cannons using fire charges."

"Okay, but how are we going to keep the TNT from blowing up the circuitry? It's not like we can just cover it up," Needles mentioned in a defiant tone. Kyle, on the other hand, was absolutely lost.

"Well, we don't need to cover it up, because the TNT won't be near the circuitry for the dispensers."

Needles thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, how are we going to make sure that there's a steady supply of fire charges and arrows? Because once we run out of fire charges, the TNT might as well be a bunch of sand."

"I can set up a delivery system of mine carts with chests filled with them, while Kyle mans the weapon from behind," Seth explained. Kyle perked up at the sound of his name, and began to get an evil smile on his face.

"Okay, fine. But we're going to need far more than what you have in your little 'trinket shop'. Come on, we're going to my place," Needles said forcefully.

* * *

Holly and PixelKnux both ran along the canopy of the dense jungle, while Steve continually kept falling out of large trees and nearly dying. "Hurry up Steve! There's a reason we're going over the tops of the trees," Holly shouted from the top of a large branch.

"Oh…*pant* really…" Steve said, completely out of breath, "And why…*pant* is that?"

"AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAHHH HHHH!" A girl wielding a wooden sword quickly descended from out of nowhere and nearly split Steve in half. Steve immediately fell to the ground, and when he looked up, he was met with the sword to his throat.

"That's why!" Holly shouted from her branch. "I told you my sister was crazy!"

"Hey sis!" the girl pleasantly waved up at Holly, still holding the sword to Steve's throat.

"Hi Kitty," Holly said begrudgingly.

Kitty then turned back to Steve with a maniacal look in her eye. For living in the jungle, she was surprisingly well clothed and groomed. She had very curly brown hair and hazel eyes, and wore a shirt bearing the name "Nintendo" on the front in bold letters.

"Alright, you low-life, scum bag, evil doing nanny pants," Kitty exclaimed at Steve evilly, "WHERE ARE YOU HIDING ALL MY CHEESE?!"

Steve, utterly terrified and very confused, could merely utter, "…whuh?"

"I WANT MY CHEEEEEESE! CHEESECHEESECHEESE!" Kitty manically shouted. Steve looked up in horror at the crazy girl holding a blade to his throat. It was at this moment that Holly and PixelKnux dropped in and nearly made Steve wet himself in fear.

"Kitty, he doesn't have your cheese…drop the sword," Holly calmly said.

"Oh. OK," Kitty contently said, giving Holly a big hug as PixelKnux helped Steve up off the ground. "So what brings you to my part of the desert?" Kitty asked much to the confusion of Steve.

"Well," Holly began, ignoring the complete inanity of her sister's previous statement, "we need some people for an army. Are you game?"

Kitty pondered for a good long while. It was about five hours later when she finally asked one question. "Will there be teddy bears wielding chainsaws that are on fire and dancing a jig?"

"Possibly…" Holly said slyly.

"I WILL DO IT!" Kitty exclaimed, nearly knocking Steve to the ground again.

* * *

Kyle, Seth and Needles all walked along the mountainous region to the north of the pixel ranch. After multiple hours of long walking, Kyle dragged his feet along the grass until he was met with stone steps. He looked up and saw an enormous staircase leading high above the clouds. After what seemed like forever trying to climb the staircase, Kyle tried to take in the sight before him.

An enormous, two-story house set into the peak of the mountain majestically overlooked the world below it, and Needles and Seth continued to walk inside of the house. When Kyle walked inside, he felt a strange sense of déjà-vu. He looked around and saw almost nothing but intricate redsone wiring with dozens of machines and lights flashing in a synchronized rhythm. The three of them descended into the basement of the house that had a large system of chests in mine carts. Needles simply pressed a button and pulled out multiple components of redstone, repeaters, switches, and torches. He then pressed another button and pulled out multiple stacks of TNT, dispensers, fire charges, and arrows, which he promptly handed to Seth.

"Okay," Needles said eagerly, "let's get to work."


	26. Chapter 26: Kitty's Crazy Adventure

_Author's Note: There! I gave you what you wanted, but not possibly in the manner that you had predicted. Anyways, here's where Kitty meets everyone else. Meanwhile, Tesmarticate and Wolfy remain in limbo somewhere in the plotline._

* * *

About an hour, five stacks of redstone, a bunch of repeaters, torches, TNT, arrows and general slacking off later, the super weapon that they had dreamed of was complete. Needles and Seth both took a step back to admire their handiwork, while Kyle played with a cat sitting in the corner.

The weapon consisted of seven dispensers set on top of three TNT cannons, which all had redstone clocks set to repeaters to allow for an easy switch to be able to unleash hell upon whatever stood in its way.

"Sniff…It's so beautiful," Needles said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Yes, now we should probably go find Kyle's friend," Seth said.

"But…you're my friend," Needles said quizzically.

"No no no, I mean the silly one."

"Ohhh…okay. Come on, let's go."

* * *

Steve took extra care to stay about a foot away from Kitty as they all walked back to Holly's island. Not a second after they had gotten exactly halfway to Holly's house, Kitty abruptly stopped, surprising Steve into running right into her and knocking him to the ground.

Kitty turned around and said, without the slightest hesitation, "What is this army of yours for? Pumpkin mauling? Dog sneezing?...JuMp RoPiNg?"

Steve, still on the ground and completely incapacitated once again by Kitty's insanity, just stupidly stared up at Kitty until she grabbed him by the lapels and began shaking him like a red-headed stepchild.

"ARE?! WE?! GOING?! TO?! JUMP?! ROPE?! ANSWERANSWERANSWER!" Kitty shouted insanely while forcefully shaking Steve back and forth. PixelKnux and Holly could only stand back and snicker at this hilarity.

"NoOoOoOoOoWeEeEeEe'RrRrRe tRyYyYyIiIiInNnNg to sToOoOp HeEeRrRrRoObRIIIIIIiiiiine…" Kitty had thrown Steve in the ocean at the sound of Herobrine's name. She then turned to PixelKnux, who was still laughing, and slapped him across the face, snapping him out of his seizure of laughter. Kitty then ran off into the forest in the opposite direction.

"What is her problem?!" Steve screamed as he washed up on shore.

"I'm not quite sure…" PixelKnux stated, still reeling from the slap.

"I told you guys, she's plum loco!" Holly said mater-of-factly.

"Well, we better go after her," PixelKnux said.

"You all can go! I am not going anywhere near that crazy chic!" Steve said defiantly. PixelKnux and Holly just shrugged their shoulders and began walking into the forest, dragging Steve behind by his hands.

* * *

Kitty continued to run until she came across a mountainous region. She abruptly stopped and looked to the top of a mountain high above the clouds. Without hesitation, she pulled out a vine and tossed it onto a ledge. She had meant to climb the vine, but since she had just thrown it onto the mountain, she saw no other option but to hoof it to the top.

She eventually came to a set of stone stairs which led to a house built into the peak of the mountain. She also saw three people outside the house playing with what looked like something fun to kill stuff with, so without so much as a second thought, she scurried up to the top of the mountain and snuck up behind a man wearing a leather cloak.

"HI!" Kitty shouted as loudly as she possibly could. The man in the leather cloak immediately jumped in shock from the sound coming from behind him. He turned around prepared to fight, but was surprised to see the young woman standing before him.

"Hi…who are you?" the man hesitantly asked.

"My name is Kitty. Say, do you like pickles?" Kitty asked.

"Uh…no, not really."

"Yeah, me neither. They make funny noises when you toss them into a swamp full of flying turnip shoelaces."

"Huh," the man said surprised, "I did not know that. Anyway, my name is Needles, and my friends over there are-"

"OOOoooOOOoo…that looks fun! Let me try!" Kitty instantly ran past Needles and hopped into the cockpit of the super weapon, grabbing the other person in there by the lapels and casually tossing him over the side. Kitty instantly pulled the lever, and primed TNT instantly shot out of a barrel on the front and impacted with the opposing mountain, killing three sheep.

"MUHAHAHAHAHA! This is fun," Kitty said cutely, and then turned to the strange purple-eyed man in glasses who was now gawking at Kitty.

"Who are you, and how can we get you to join our team?" the purple-eyed man said.

"Man, everybody is wanting to make some kind of team! I just met some really scared dude who was making an army."

"That sounds like Steve!" the blonde man said, picking himself up off the ground. "Can you take us to him?"

Kitty pondered for a moment and said, "On one condition…I want a lollipop."

The blonde man, without hesitation, said, "DONE!"

Kitty, the blonde man and the purple-eyed man all began to walk down the mountain. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up," Needles called after them.

* * *

As soon as the others were out of sight, Needles pulled out a small teal orb from his pocket. He looked into it, and looking back was a man with white, soulless eyes.

"Just as you predicted my liege. They fell for it hook, line, and sinker. And now, your weapon is ready." Needles turned the orb towards the super weapon. The man in the orb smiled evilly.


	27. Chapter 27: Herobrine's Minions

_Author's Note: For the record, Emperor Arachnid is NOT based on anyone that has given me an idea for a player. He's purely original._

_Since the Facebook page has not done so well, I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to make a website instead? I have heard that some of my readers actually don't have facebook accounts, so it might be friendlier for those who don't. Leave a review or PM me if you think it'd be a better idea._

_In addition to the website idea, anybody that fancies themselves as artists could possibly post drawings of their favorite scenes from Adevntures of Steve or Saga of Kyle. I have especially been thinking of what a comic of these adventures would look like, but I lack the artistic ability to create something like that._

_One final note: Happy Thanksgiving! I apologize for the really short chapter, but I am on break for the whole week, so I'm not going to be writing very much. So, enjoy this extremely short chapter where Herobrine hires a hitman._

* * *

"Kitty? Where did you go?" Holly called out as she walked through the forest.

"Kitty? Kitty!" PixelKnux called out.

"Hey, maybe we'll never-OOF!" Steve said as he was knocked to the ground. Kitty immediately began jumping up and down on Steve's spine.

"GUYSGUYSGUYS! I FOUND 'EM YOU GUYS! Now where's my lollipop?" Kitty screamed to the other three men walking behind her.

"Uh, Steve…you know this girl?" Kyle asked as he approached with Needles and Seth following closely behind.

"Unfortunately," Steve said with enormous pain.

"HeysisguesswhatIfoundanaweso methingto KILL STUFF!" Kitty said hurriedly as Holly begrudgingly nodded in understanding.

"Steve, who is this?" Kyle said, pointing to Holly.

"Why don't we all go back to my house, and we can all get acquainted properly," Holly said. Everyone nodded in agreement, and they all turned around to go back to Holly's house.

* * *

Herobrine peered menacingly into the orb that Needles had been holding. "This is getting annoying," he hissed evilly, "These players are actually putting together formidable forces. I might have to enlist the help of my underlings." The man whistled loudly.

An extremely pale man in a dark black suit slithered into the room. He had a dark expression on his face, and was covered from head to toe in spiders. He was appropriately referred to as "Emperor Arachnid."

"You called, sssire?" he hissed insidiously.

"I need you to go and take care of those meddlesome players. And don't hesitate to make it as painful as possible."

"My pleassssure, sssire," Emperor Arachnid said as he bowed with an evil smile. He skulked out of Herobrine's quarters. Herobrine looked to his right, and Testhieficate looked back up.

"And you," Herobrine said contently, "Have you gotten what I commissioned you to acquire?"

"Yes, my lord. It was not easy, but I do have it." Testhieficate pulled out a dark skull from his sack and handed it to Herobrine. Herobrine looked at it evilly and said to Testhieveicate, "Thank you. You have done well."

"Do I get my reward now, sire?" Testhieficate asked with anticipation.

"But of course, my underling." Herobrine clapped his hands. Two skeletons walked in and escorted Testhieficate out of the room. The last utterance that was heard was the sound of Testhieficate screaming in agony as Herobrine looked into the skull with greed.


	28. Chapter 28: Emperor Arachnid's Strike

_Author's Note: I have officially commisioned for a website to be made. I can not say for certain, but if I were to estimate when it might be up, I would say anywhere from now until Christmas, at the most._

_I really haven't been giving as much action and suspense as I feel I needed to in previous chapters. Most of the chapters before this have been almost purely exposition, so I hope you all like this new turn from exposition to pure, unbridled ACTION!_

* * *

The gang was all huddled in the living room of Holly's house as a fire burned brightly in the fireplace. Each player sat in a chair, except for Kitty who was sitting on the floor.

"Okay," Kyle said, trying to keep account of everybody in the room "Let me see if I got this straight…" He drew in a large breath of air, "PixelKnux is the first guy that we met, and he runs a pixel ranch where he makes a bunch of different forms of art that amass to giant statues; after that, I met Seth, who apparently can talk to Endermen and is the disowned son of the Ender King, and is a master of redstone weaponry and machinery; Seth has a friend named Needles, who lives in the mountains and is also a redstone genius, but I don't know much else about him…; Steve, you and PixelKnux met a girl named Holly who has a pet Creeper; and Holly, you have an insane sister who lives in the jungle and likes to kill things, and her name is Kitty." Kyle panted as he ran out of breath. _[Author's Comment: Don't forget Tesmarticate and Wolfy, who were lost in the plot somewhere.]_

"Sounds about right," PixelKnux commented.

"Yep, sounds good," Holly stated.

"Indeed," Seth quietly said.

"You betcha," Needles said.

"I have a pumpkin on my head!" Kitty exclaimed cheerfully, wearing a pumpkin on her head.

"Good, now that we've all gotten acquainted, I suggest that we all start training to try to fight off this army that Herobrine is going to be forming," Holly stated matter-of-factly.

"I concur," Steve immediately stated, "This guy is serious business, you guys. He has immense power, and we have no idea what he's going to throw at us."

"My burps taste funny," Kitty obliviously said as she rocked back and forth in the corner, pumpkin still nested upon her head.

"Well," Seth began to mention, "We have two people who can communicate with normally aggressive mobs. You have me, who can command Endermen, and you have Holly, who can command Creepers. Personally, I find that to be an extremely reliable asset."

"AND ME!" Kitty screamed, to the immediate shock of everyone in the room.

"Kitty, you can talk to mobs too?" Needles asked.

"Yes." Kitty paused for a long period of time.

"WELL, WHAT ARE THEY?" Steve shouted.

"I can talk to cats."

Steve was immediately struck with an expression which suggested that his brain had finally snapped in half. Holly, on the other hand, interjected, "It's true. That's why we live so far away from each other. Creepsie doesn't like cats…they give him the willies." Holly turned and scratched the Creeper on the head, which hissed in contentment.

"THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T LIVE WITH EACH OTHER?!" Steve exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well yeah, Steve," Kitty said, "It's not like she'd want her Creeper sneezing all over the place. Creeper snot is really hard to clean, especially since bread crumbs and beaver spit don't make a good cleaning agent. Everybody knows that." Steve said not a word, but simply melted down to the floor and lay huddled in the fetal position as he rocked back and forth with a blank stare on his face.

"Well, okay," Seth said with mild confusion, "I suppose that could help us… but either way, it's getting late, and I suggest that we all stay the night here so we can begin to plan our advances in the morning."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Holly began to grab beds from a chest in the corner of the room.

* * *

It was the dead of night, and Kyle lay in his bed, sawing logs. He began to feel a small tickle on his nose, and tried to scratch it away. When it didn't go away, he began to feel it moving. Without opening his eyes, he slapped his face trying to get the tickle to go away. When it didn't, he lazily opened his eyes.

Kyle was met with eight glowing red eyes staring straight at him, menacingly.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The blood curdling scream was enough to wake everyone from their dead sleep, and they all found that there was an infestation of gigantic spiders crawling all over the house. After more screams of surprise, shock, and one of joy from Kitty, they all immediately ran outside, and were entangled by spider webs which surrounded Holly's entire island home.

"What's happening?!" Holly shouted as she tried to break free from the webs.

"It's probably Herobrine! We need to get out of here!" Steve shouted in response.

"I wouldn't be sssso sssure."

All of the players turned around to find another player standing in front of them, wearing a midnight black suit, yet still contrasting with the night sky due to his ghostly skin. A spider crawled over his shoulder, and he stroked it lovingly and evilly at the same time.

"What the heck? You're a player! Why are you doing this?!" Kyle shouted in disbelief as he tried to wriggle free.

"Quite sssssimple, really," the evil man hissed, "I'm playing for the winning team."

"You work for Herobrine!" Seth shouted, still entangled in webs.

"Indeed, for I am Emporer Arachnid," he declared triumphantly, "and tonight issss the night you all _die._"

With a wave of his hand, a myriad of spiders began to swarm all around the helpless players, biting at each of them. Steve finally managed to wriggle one of his hands free, and with that he pulled out his sword and sliced through the webs. PixelKnux had managed to do the same thing.

"You take care of the spiders, and I'll free everyone!" PixelKnux shouted to Steve as he sliced through Needles' webbing.

"Gee, THANKS!" Steve replied sarcastically as he fended off three different spiders. Steve began to enter his badass mode. He quickly pushed the three spiders away, and as he did so, drove his sword through the head of one, and sliced through a second, the head of the first still on his blade. He then used the head to smash right into the third, which made both the head on the sword and the head on the spider explode. He felt a bite at his back and turned around to find five more spiders. Without hesitating, Steve skewered one on the end in the face, and dragged it across the other four, making them all stumble. He then pulled his sword out of the first spider and kicked another over onto its back, and drove his sword straight through its abdomen. Without looking behind him, Steve pulled out his blade and sliced behind him, cutting clean through the third spider that had jumped into the air to attack him. He then kicked the fourth and fifth spider in the face, smashing both of their heads into their bodies.

Steve was starting to get tired, but it was then that he noticed that PixelKnux had cut everyone free, and they had all began to attack. Kitty was gnawing on the head of one spider; Needles and Holly were back to back in a ring of spiders, swords drawn; and Kyle and Seth both had bows and arrows continually being fired.

"There's too many of them!" Holly shouted as she tried to hold off three spiders at a time.

"I'm out of ammo!" Seth and Kyle said almost simultaneously.

"Fall back!" Steve said. With that, everyone jumped into the ocean and began to swim towards the mainland. Emperor Arachnid simply stood and watched as they all jumped in, and called his spiders back.

* * *

The gang washed up on the shore of the mainland in Kitty's native jungle. Everyone coughed water out of their lungs and lay on the shore with looks of defeat on their faces.

"Is everyone okay?" Steve said, panting heavily.

"Wait a second…" Kyle said, counting everyone. "Guys, where's PixelKnux?"


	29. Chapter 29: Crazy Takes the Wheel

Steve immediately began to freak out.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?! HE'S THE BEST OF ANY OF US!" Steve exclaimed hysterically.

"Excuse me?" Kitty said in a sassy tone.

Kyle walked up to Steve with a blank expression and slapped him across the face multiple times until Steve calmed down. "GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF MAN!" Kyle said as he began to shake Steve back and forth. Once he had made Steve turned green from nausea, Kyle threw him to the ground and turned towards the shore with a pensive expression on his face. "Alright…let's not panic," Kyle said, being somewhat mute by that point, "we've lost a member of our force. But that's okay…we'll just have to compensate. Seth, are you any good with a sword?"

Seth perked up at the mention of his name, but then sullenly shook his head.

"Okay, what about you Needles?"

Needles gave a small nudge of his hand, indicating that he had some experience, but probably not enough to really make an impact in the grand scheme of things.

"Holly?" Kyle asked desperately.

Holly pulled out stone sword, and then fumbled with it. She dropped the sword in the sand, nearly missing Steve, who was still lying on the ground with nausea. Kyle massaged his brow in frustration.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Kitty said, shocking everyone out of their pity party. Kitty pulled out her wooden sword and held it in the air triumphantly. Kyle looked at her with an expression of grief.

"No offense Kitty, but a wooden sword is not going to make much of a difference in a fight against a demon."

"Ahem" Kitty coughed defiantly, "Observe." Kitty walked over to a large stone that was nearby on the shore and sliced it once with her sword. When the stone didn't move, it only reaffirmed everybody's belief that Kitty belonged in an institution. Kitty then gave a slight blow on the stone, and it immediately severed into two halves where she had sliced through it.

"Now," Kitty started as everybody picked their jaws up off the floor, "are we going to sit around here with our thumbs in our pie holes, or are we going to go and save our friend?!"

Everybody, still in shock, simply followed Kitty as she began to walk into the jungle.

* * *

"I brought him as you wanted, ssssire." Emperor Arachnid held a mass of squirming silk over his shoulder, and then tossed it to the ground at Herobrine's feet. Herobrine cut open the silk to reveal a bound PixelKnux looking up defiantly at Herobrine.

"Hello there, friend," Herobrine said wryly, an evil smile on his face.

"That's funny. I didn't know I was a zombie, 'cause those are the only friends you'll ever have!" PixelKnux exclaimed in defiance.

Herobrine chuckled slightly, and lifted up PixelKnux's chin as Herobrine bent down to the ground at PixelKnux's level. "You have fight in you. We'll work that out," Herobrine said as he smiled, "I know that _you_ know that you're the best of your little team. With you on my side, they will _never _defeat us."

"I will NEVER join you, you vile, disgusting-HURP!" PixelKnux was gagged by a piece of silk from Emperor Arachnid.

"Oh, you pathetic player…" Herobrine said, chuckling slightly, "I never said it would be by choice."


	30. Chapter 30: PixelKnux?

"Kitty? Are you going in any particular direction?" Steve questioned as his stomach growled.

The gang had been walking for at least a full day, and by that point, everyone except for Kitty was very tired and hungry. Kitty continued to walk triumphantly with her sword in the air, until Seth finally keeled over from hunger.

"Hmm? Oh, I guess I'm kinda hungry too…" With that, Kitty gave a tremendous wheeze and fell to the ground as well.

"I think this is where we stop for lunch," Needles said as he killed a nearby chicken.

* * *

PixelKnux struggled aimlessly as he tried to wiggle out of the webbing he was trapped in. Herobrine continued to laugh evilly.

"Oh Gortriss!" Herobrine called in between chuckles. A completely white man (not like ethnically white, _literally_ white) raced into the room and nodded to Herobrine. He had no mouth, so he didn't speak.

"Gortriss here is my special buddy," Herobrine said with a chuckle.

"Really? How long have you two been doin' it?" PixelKnux said with defiance. Herobrine gave an even bigger laugh.

"That's cute," Herobrine wryly said, "But no, Gortriss has a very special ability. It's-well, it's better to explain using a visual. Gortriss?"

Gortriss walked up and put his hand over PixelKnux's face. PixelKnux felt as if his very life force was being drained, and when he looked back up, he felt as if he was looking in a mirror. He saw himself looking up at himself, and Herobrine just laughed.

"Now Gortriss…I want you to go and lead those pathetic players into my trap."

"My pleasure, sire," Gortriss said in PixelKnux's voice.

* * *

The others began to walk again as their strength returned after the well-needed lunch break. Kitty saw a tiny glint of bright red, and immediately ran towards it.

"GUYS GUYS I FOUND HIM!" She exclaimed. She jumped up and down and continually pointed at PixelKnux, who was lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Hmm…that's strange," Holly thought to herself, "Well, help him up!" she said to Kitty. Kitty picked up PixelKnux by the lapels and began to shake him until he woke up.

"Huh? Whuh? Where am I?" PixelKnux looked around at everybody with shock.

"You're in the jungle. But it's okay, because I FOUND YOU!" Kitty exclaimed as she hugged PixelKnux tightly. PixelKnux choked in pain from the force of the squeeze, and then brushed himself off as he was let down.

"Right then, shall we carry on? I found out where Herobrine is stationed, and I would advise that we all go and try to intercept him," PixelKnux said snootily. Holly thought it was extremely strange that PixelKnux was speaking in such a manner, but dismissed it as her own paranoia.

* * *

"NO! YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG GUY!" PixelKnux yelled as he looked into the orb that Needles was holding. Herobrine just laughed evily.


	31. Chapter 31: Awkward Arm Situation

_Author's Note: DOUBLE UPDATES! W00T!_

_Steve curses in this chapter. First time for everything._

* * *

"Scream all you want, pathetic whelp! None of your puny friends can save you now!" Herobrine exclaimed evilly. PixelKnux tried to reach his back so he could grab his sword, but once he had grabbed the sheathe, he noticed his sword was gone. Now, not only was he stuck, but he was stuck with his arm in an awkward position.

* * *

"Hey Steve, is it just me, or does something seem 'off' about PixelKnux?" Holly whispered to Steve as they walked along.

Holly wasn't entirely wrong. It was definitely strange that PixelKnux had led them into the barren desert, and what made it even more peculiar was the fact that he hadn't said a word almost the whole way.

"Yeah, I see what you're saying. But the guy just got captured by a madman, so I can't really blame him." Steve continued to walk until PixelKnux came to an abrupt halt, and turned around sharply.

"I apologize, my friends. But this is where I leave you," PixelKnux said as he pulled out a switch and placed it on the ground. The instant he pulled the switch, a piston door in the ground opened up, making everyone fall into an obsidian-lined hole. Everyone except for Kitty, who was promptly kicked into the hole along with everyone else.

"Goodbye everyone. It was delightful." PixelKnux leaned into the hole and promptly lit the obsidian lining of the hole on fire, which turned into a swirling vortex of purple.

"OH NOTCH! NOT THIS AGAIN!" Steve screamed as he felt himself being dragged into the Nether.

* * *

_[Entering The Nether]_

Everyone fell onto the hard Netherrack ground as they came out of the portal set up on the ceiling. Needles immediately began to freak out.

"HE TOLD ME THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN! HEROBRINE SAID THAT I WAS SPECIAL! HE SAID I WOULDN'T BE CONDEMNED!"

Everyone turned to Needles with a hairy eyeball. Seth walked up to Needles with a slight tear in his eye.

"Needles? I-I thought…"

"WELL YOU THOUGHT WRONG!" Needles said, now on the verge of tears, "BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER NOW! BECAUSE WE'RE ALL STUCK IN HELL!"

"So um…I know the way out of here," Steve mentioned as casually as possible, "Who's up for ditching this back-stabbing Creeper f*****?"

Disregarding Steve's strong language, Kitty grabbed Needles by the lapels and tossed him off of a nearby cliff, nearly dropping him into lava. Needles tried frantically to climb up the cliff, but once he had returned to where the portal had dropped them, everyone had disappeared.

* * *

Herobrine laughed maniacally.

"Great. Now the only connection I had with Steve and the others is lost," PixelKnux said, still trying to adjust to his stuck arm.

"Oh, don't be too sure, my friend. They're actually closer than you think they are," Herobrine whispered malevolently.

"Wait a second…are you saying…" PixelKnux then realized where he was, "WE'RE IN THE NETHER?!"

"Oh yes…but better than that. Your friends are on their way straight into my trap."

"You mean besides the one that they so evidently fell for? I doubt that they're going to be that gullible again."

"That's the beauty of it! They don't even realize that they're walking into a trap! Isn't it so delicious!?"

"Wow…you must get bored down here, don't you?" PixelKnux said mockingly.


	32. Chapter 32: The Gang's All Here

_Author's Note: Hello everyone! I apologize for the extremely long wait for this new chapter. But finals are coming up this week, and after that I have about a month off of school. Expect more chapters after next week._

_I have also been caught up in a new multiplayer server on Minecraft. Its called Maxisociety. It's got a wonderful community of people, and the best part is that griefing is now allowed. If you want to meet with me on the server, the IP address is .com:30265_

_As always, keep following and favoriting. I will try to update as soon as possible with the next chapter._

* * *

Needles dropped to his knees in shame and began to cry. Needles began to realize that he had betrayed the only people who had ever been kind to him, trusted him, and accepted him. And now it was all for nothing, because Herobrine had betrayed him in turn. Now, Needles was trapped in the Nether. Needles slowly began to rise, with his head still hung, and started walking.

* * *

"I can't believe that he would do this! I was his friend, and he tricked me!" Seth said angrily. This was actually the loudest that Kyle had ever heard him, and even so he was still rather quiet.

"He tricked us all, Seth. The only thing we can do now is get out of here," Kyle said as he pulled his sword from a slain Pigman. "Steve, you said you knew a way out of here?"

"Yeah, but I haven't been to this part of the Nether before…" Steve looked around, but the surroundings on all sides were the same: nothing but lava, Netherrack and fire.

"OOH! OOH! I HAVE A COMPASS!" Kitty exclaimed as she pulled out a small silver trinket, "Follow me everybody!" Steve looked at Kyle and Holly in confusion, who both just shrugged as the party began to follow Kitty.

* * *

"Kitty, do you even know where you're going?" Holly asked tiredly.

They had been following Kitty for the past hour, and hadn't gotten anywhere closer to the stronghold that Steve had described.

"Of course I do! This compass is telling me that north is that way…no, that way…no, that way…no, THAT way…uh…" Kitty tapped on the compass. Holly looked over Kitty's shoulder to find that the needle on the compass was spinning around like a blade on a fan. Now extremely frustrated, Holly kicked the compass out of Kitty's hands and straight into the lava.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WE JUST WALKED OVER GIANT PITS OF LAVA AND DEATH INCARNATE BECAUSE _YOU_ WERE FOLLOWING A BROKEN COMPASS?!" Holly yelled. The volume of the scream rumbled against the walls of Netherrack which surrounded them. Kitty shed a small tear, and began to run away. Holly, with extreme guilt, followed after her.

"Wait! Guys!..." Steve tried to shout after them, but by that time, they had both ran out of sight.

"Don't worry about it," Seth said. Seth pulled out a small teal pearl and whispered something in a strange tongue. A small instant later, a tall Enderman appeared out of nowhere. "Hello, friend. We're a tad lost…can you help us?" The Enderman nodded slowly, and put his hands on Steve, Kyle and Seth. Steve began to feel as if he was being sucked into thin air, and no sooner did he feel that than did he feel like he was being forcibly pushed back down. Steve looked around and saw his small cave that he had lived in, and the giant pile of golden nuggets. He then found the dark bricks of the stronghold, and immediately began to run towards it, with Kyle following close behind. "Thank you," Seth said hastily as he began to run to catch up with Steve and Kyle.

* * *

PixelKnux was sleeping soundly in his webbed prison with his arm still grasped to his back. He was loudly awoken by the sound of the door to Herobrine's chamber slamming open.

Needles slowly walked in, his head hung low. Herobrine and PixelKnux both looked at each other in confusion. Needles slowly pulled out a sword and began to charge at Herobrine. He was instantly ensnared by a web from a nearby spider.

"Well, that was somewhat amusing." Herobrine said as he tossed Needles next to PixelKnux.

"Heh heh… hello…" Needles said awkwardly. PixelKnux glared daggers at Needles, and Needles turned his head away.

"I cannot believe you would do that. What were you thinking?" PixelKnux hissed angrily.

"I was thinking…I was his friend?" Needles said pathetically.

"Oh come on, this guy is crazy! You honestly think that he wouldn't turn on any one of his lackeys in an instant?"

"Uh, I'm right here, and you are still both my prisoners," Herobrine said, somewhat offended."

"Well, do you disagree with me?" PixelKnux said to Herobrine.

"…I can't say that I do."

"See?" PixelKnux said to Needles.

"Well, it doesn't even matter now… they're all trapped in here with us," Needles said in defeat.

"No, they have a way out. _We're_ the only ones that are trapped."

"But, Herobrine set a trap for the-"

* * *

Kyle, Steve, and Seth all walked into the small chamber that held the portal out of the Nether.

"Okay guys, so what's the plan once we- AAAAAHHHH!"

Everybody had fallen into the trap that had been set in the portal room."

* * *

"-m."

Just as Needles finished speaking, Steve, Kyle and Seth all fell through the roof.

"Oh, how delightful! I'm so glad you could all join the party!" Herobrine exclaimed as he jumped up and down with glee. Emperor Arachnid then sent a spider after all of them, and in no time, everyone else was wrapped up in spider webs along with PixelKnux and Needles.

"Told you," Needles said.


	33. Chapter 33: The Escape

_[Author's Note]: Hooray! The game is unpaused! I apologize for the previous explination I gave. I was reading over my old stories, and a bout of inspiration hit me. Hope you all enjoy it! I will try to be better about posting chapters in the future. And don't forget, I'm still going to do a playthrough of Super Mario World for the SNES on youtube, so check that out too!_

* * *

Holly held on to the edge of the cliff for dear life. The lava below bubbled and hissed with steam. Holly looked up, terrified. Kitty looked down upon her sister.

"Help me, please!" Holly screamed in desperation.

"But…I thought I was crazy?" Kitty said menacingly. She smirked darkly as Holly continually tried to pull herself up with no success.

"You're not crazy! You're my sister! You know I love you, and I wouldn't want you any other way!"

"Oh, that's so sweet," Kitty said warmly, "But, sadly, sis, I can't say the same. I actually do want you a different way."

Kitty stomped on her sister's hand. Holly immediately fell into the boiling lava below.

"Dead."

* * *

Everyone was now bound in webs, and hanging from the ceiling of Herobrine's chamber. The weapon that Needles had designed was now in the center of the room, and Herobrine was tinkering with it while Needles grimaced every time Herobrine messed with something that shouldn't have been messed with.

"Seth," PixelKnux whispered, "can you call your Ender buddies? We kinda need to get out of this."

"I'm afraid not," Seth said broken-hearted.

Steve looked all around Herobrine's chamber. He heard a low oinking sound from the very far end of the room, and turned to see one of the rotting bipedal pigs that had been the object of his torment when he had been trapped in the Nether. "Kyle, I need you to listen very carefully," Steve began to say until he realized that Kyle was fast asleep. Steve then swayed over to Kyle and nudged him hard in the side, jolting him awake.

"Hrrm? No mom, no more creeper waffles…" Kyle said in a daze.

"Hey, Kyle, I need you to try and aggravate that pig man over there," Steve said with haste.

"Huh? Okay, I suppose…" Kyle began to think, and then let out a loud snort and hocked a wad of saliva right at the pig man. The pig man turned around instantly, and walked angrily over to Kyle and started beating Kyle with his sword.. The webs that were constricting Kyle were then ripped to shreds, and Kyle fell on top of the pig man, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, Herobrine was too busy looking lustfully at the powerful weapon that Needles had designed for him.

"You go look for anything that can help us!" PixelKnux said to Kyle. Kyle gave a nod of understanding, and ran out of Herobrine's chamber, Herobrine none the wiser.

* * *

"Ahh ahh ahh. We can't have that now, can we?" Gortriss, who was still disguised as PixelKnux, immediately grabbed Kyle by the face and began depleting him of all his strength. Kyle then saw the figure before him assume his same white shirt and brown pants, and just before Kyle fainted from exhaustion, he saw the figure run away in the opposite direction.


	34. Chapter 34: I'm Sorry, What?

Kyle woke up in a daze. His head was reeling, and his body was still exhausted. Kyle slowly got up and began lazily walking down the corridor he had been knocked out in, not still fully lucid. He only snapped back into reality for an instant when he was nearly knocked over as Kitty ran past him towards Herobrine's chamber.

"Wait…whuh?" he said, dumbfounded.

* * *

Kyle began to run straight out of Herobrine's fortress. He ran outside back into the Nether, where Kitty was sitting on the edge of a cliff, smiling happily.

"Uh…greetings…what…what are you doing?" Kyle said with uncertainty. Kitty immediately turned towards where the sound came from, and was struck with a look of terror.

"You…you stay away! I didn't do anything! Get away from me!" Kitty pulled out her wooden sword, but as she did so, a stray ember from a nearby lava pool caught the blade and burned it into ashes within seconds.

"I'm…sorry?" Kyle was extremely confused, and Kitty was acting stranger by the minute. In a rush, she quickly ran past Kyle back towards Herobrine's fortress.

"That was…peculiar." Kyle continued to walk away from Herobrine's fortress.

* * *

Kitty burst through the doors of Herobrine's chambers.

"Oh thank Notch! We're saved!" Needles shouted with glee. It was only at this point that Herobrine looked up from the weapon to see Kitty standing in the room, looking terrified. Herobrine looked up at his prisoners, and noticed a distinct lack of idiotic noob.

"WHERE DID THE BLONDE ONE GO?" He said, immediately seething with rage. Everyone nonchalantly looked up at the ceiling, as if none of them had a clue.

"I just saw him, my lord," Kitty said, finally calming down, "but don't worry; he shouldn't be a problem for us."

"I'm sorry…what?" PixelKnux said, flabbergasted.

"Ah-HA! I KNEW she was insane!" Steve immediately shouted with conviction. Kitty then looked up at Steve with a look of pure, unspeakable evil that not even with Herobrine in the room could be outmatched.

"I will have you all know, I AM the only one who tested the weapon Needles built," Kitty said, smiling evilly.

Seth immediately glanced over to Needles. "Is that true? I could've sworn we tested it before hand." Needles just shrugged and turned back towards Kitty.

"Oh yes… my sweet Kitty cat has been an inside agent the entire time you've known her. And, my sweet, am I correct in assuming that your wretched sister is now gone?"

"She sure is, my lord," Kitty said, smiling cutely. Herobrine patted Kitty on the head, and Kitty gave a small purr of content.

"I told you, and you, and you," Steve said mockingly to everyone who was still hanging by the spider webs.

"Kitty, be a dear and kill them, would you?" Herobrine cooed to Kitty. Kitty jumped into the machine and aimed a TNT cannon straight at Needles, who gulped in anticipation.

SSSSsssssssssSSSS...

BOOM!

A loud explosion blew the doors open.


	35. Chapter 35: A Life for a Life

_[Author's Note:] Okay...not gonna lie...this one is a little dark. There's a lot of death involved, but what good story isn't complete without some bloodshed, eh?_

* * *

SSSSSsssssssSSSSS

BOOM!

A loud explosion was heard from the creeper exploding behind the door of Herobrine's chambers, blowing it completely off. When the smoke cleared, there stood Holly, fuming with anger, and backed by and army of creepers.

"It can't be…" Herobrine said with terror in his voice.

"No… this isn't possible! How did she survive?" Kitty exclaimed.

Holly spoke not a word, but merely walked up to the machine Kitty was mounted behind, picked her up by the throat, and flung her across the room. When she slammed onto the hard netherrack floor, five creepers immediately encircled Kitty and hissed as if they were going to explode. Meanwhile, a few other creepers made their way up to the walls where the others hung by webs, and exploded to get them out. The boys fell to a floor with a thud. Holly threw diamond swords to them all as they stood up and stretched. Immediately, PixelKnux took his sword and flung it straight at Emperor Arachnid, instantly killing him. Needles, Seth and Steve all walked up to Herobrine menacingly, swords drawn as PixelKnux drew his sword from Emperor Arachnid's bloody corpse and approached along with them. Herobrine, backed into a corner, suddenly vanished out of thin air.

Holly looked at the boys with an expression of sternness they had never seen before. Holly walked up to her sister, who was still incased in a circle of creepers. The creepers backed away slowly as Kitty lay on the floor, cowering in fear.

"A life for a life, eh sis?" Holly said darkly.

"Please…don't kill me! I didn't mean to-" *SCHICK!*

Holly drove her sword straight through her sister's head.

"Spare me. You'll respawn in about ten seconds," Holly said flatly. She turned to the boys, and brought a pointed sword up to Needles' neck. Needles gulped fearfully. "And you," Holly stated, "try a stunt like that again, and you get the exact same treatment as her. Understand?"

Needles could only give a nervous nod of his head as Holly drew her sword away from Needles' throat.

"They spoke to you, didn't they? Those voices?" Steve asked Holly.

Holly stared blankly at the ground for an instant before replying. "Yes," she said, "I feel…almost revitalized. Like a huge burden has been lifted from me." For the first time since she had been in the room, Holly smiled lightly up at Steve, as if in understanding what Steve was talking about.

"There's absolutely no chance that we're done with Herobrine. We've not seen the last of him," PixelKnux said with concern. Seth nodded quietly.

Without warning, a huge darkness filled the room, and Herobrine's disembodied head became the focal point. In a shrill and blood curdling scream, a small note was expelled from Herobrine's mouth. Then, in the exact same instant, the head vanished and the darkness disappaited. Steve walked over and picked up the note.

"What does it say?" Holly asked.

"'You better hurry before your friend… WITHERS away'?" Steve looked up from the note nervously at the others.

* * *

"Dear Notch. What on earth is that thing?!" Kyle said in absolute terror. Kyle's double, Gortriss, and Herobrine, both looked up at Kyle with an evil smirk.


	36. Chapter 36: Oh, That's What He Meant

"We have to get out of here. We need to find Kyle!" Steve said with the utmost concern. It was all any of the others could do in order to keep up with Steve as he sped out of Herobrine's fortress.

After about five minutes of non-stop running through the Nether, Steve heard a very faint sound coming from the distance. Screaming? … Yeah, it was definitely screaming. The exact same scream he had heard the very first time Steve met Kyle. Steve was extremely relieved to hear that scream. He looked over the horizon to find Kyle running as fast as his cubical legs could carry him.

"RUN AWAY! RUN! AWAY!" Kyle screamed to the others as he ran. With distinct looks of confusion, the party simply stood there until Kyle crashed into them. A menacing laughter filled the air as they all began to rise from their pile. Herobrine stood atop a stalactite of glowstone, accompanied by Gortriss.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Herobrine announced, "Introducing…the big…"

A huge tremor shook the ground where the heroes stood.

"Bad…"

Another enormous tremor rattled the netherrack beneath them.

"WUH-WUH-WITHER!" Herobrine exclaimed.

A huge skeletal monster with three heads cloaked in a mystic veil of white light loomed over the gang. Everyone simply looked up, scared stiff by the enormous creature.

"I…it's unlike anything I've ever seen!" PixelKnux said with dread. Herobrine laughed evilly as the gigantic creature let out a deafening roar, and began to grow until it reached gargantuan proportions. A large explosion rattled all the blocks in the surrounding area, causing Herobrine and Gortriss to fall from a considerable height to the hard netherrack ground. Herobrine and Gortriss quickly picked themselves up and fled the scene, hoping not to be damaged any further by their creation.

"Oh…" Steve said to himself, "That's what he meant."

* * *

_[Author's Note:] Okay! Two updates in one night! I'm feeling pretty good about this, and I'm thinking that the story is going to be wrapping up here pretty soon. It is a real shame Kitty had to die...she was one of my most favorite characters. I loved all the imput I got(and continue to get) from all of you, my loyal fans! So, as a final note, I offer a challenge: what if YOU wrote the last chapter? If you think you can write the last chapter, then submit your chapter to (knux12159 at gmail dot com)(I had to spell it phenetically so it would show up). If I deem it epic enough, I will make a note of your name and any other outlets you wish to have me express (such as youtube channel, facebook pages, etc. etc.). I will also give you a chance to play Minecraft with me on a private server! So, does anyone want to truly play Minecraft with PixelKnux? If so, email me! Please note, however, that submissions written as reviews or private messages will NOT be considered. Good luck to you all, and happy writing!_


	37. Modificate's New Mod

GR33T1NG5 M3MB3R5 OF F4NFICT1ON. 'TIS I, MODIFICATE. [PixelKnux] IS N0T CURRENTLY WRKING ON SAGA OF KYLE, AND HAS LEFT ME AT HIS CPU TO DO A5 I PL3A5E! I H4VE RECNTLY ACQUIRD NEW M0D SOFTWARE. I CALL IT [Halo Weapons Mod]. IT IS AMZING. HERE IS A PRVIEW FOR ALL OF YOU. 3NJ0Y, 4ND PL3A5E CNTINUE TO FAV AND F0LL0W!

* * *

"Up ahead Chief, there's a planet that you can land on safely"

"Safely wouldn't be how I put it, Cortana."

Master Chief's shuttle was spiraling out of control towards the cubical planet after taking a direct hit from the covenant cruiser.

"This is gonna get bumpy," Chief said calmly as he pulled various levers in an attempt to slow the shuttle. The nose cone of the craft began to gleam red as it entered the atmosphere of the new planet. Master Chief rattled in his Spartan gear. As they passed through the final layer of the atmosphere, the G-forces were too heavy even for the suit to handle, and Chief passed out.

"Chief?!" Cortana cried helplessly, "Chief! Wake up!"

The ship crashed into the pixilated landscape.

* * *

"Oh, that one looks nice," PixelKnux said as he looked up at the stars. He was laying on the shore of Holly's island, along with Holly Pearlwing and Creepsie, Holly's pet creeper. The bright stars flickered and shot across the sky as the two players looked up at them in wonder. One particular star shined brighter than the rest and Holly and PixelKnux both sat up at the same time in the realization that it was no ordinary star. It looked as if a comet were coming straight down from the sky, and as they watched the falling star sink over the horizon, they felt an enormous tremor. Holly and PixelKnux simply looked at each other before rushing off to see what had crashed on their tiny world.


End file.
